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IN THE 



COAL Km IRON COUNTIES 



OP 



NORTH CAROLINA 

By P. M. HALE. 



A Compilation from the Geological Reports of Dps. Emmons 

and. Kerr ; Colonel Laidiey's and Admiral Wilkes' 

Reports to the War and Navy Departments ; 

the Census Reports. Supplennented by 

Accurate Sketches of the Fifty-Six 

Counties, and illustrated by a 

Map of the State. 







RALEIGH : 

P. M. HALE, PUBLISHER. 

NEW YORK : E. J. HALE & iSOK 

1883. 



Copyright, 1883. 



PUBLISHER'S PREFACE. 



Dr. Emmons, whose Reports form the basis of this 
volume, was Geologist to the great State of New York, and 
his work in that State and afterwards in this, and his 
treatises on the Science of G-eology, made him an authority 
in Europe as in America. 

Dr. Kerr, who succeeded Dr. Emmons as State Geolo- 
gist, and whose later observations are embodied in this 
volume, is now Geologist in charge of the Southern 
Division of the United States Geological Survey. 

Colonel Laidley, whose report to the War Department 
follows, is one of the most distinguished and useful officers 
of the United States Army, his ability for duty only sur- 
passed by the thorough conscientiousness with which it is 
discharged. 

Admiral Wilkes, late of the United States Navy, whose 
valuable paper accompanies Col. Laidley's, was sent here by 
the United States Government on account of peculiar fitness 
for the work of scientific and common-sense exploration. 

The contributors of the sketches of the several Counties 
are well known to North Carolinians as men of sense. 
information and character ; and the Census figures which 
supplement the sketches of the Counties are of course 
"authority" outside the State. Plainly, there is here 
abundance of the raw materials, coal and iron ; equal 



abundance of both water and steam power for tlieir manu- 
facture; a healthy country, and a soil yielding most 
generous return for the labors of the agriculturist. 

The excellent Map of the State will show the facilities for 
transportation. Thirty railroads enter or traverse more 
than sixty Counties, and give their people choice of markets 
within and without the State. Roads now in course of 
rapid construction will soon give the same advantages to 
the few outlying Counties. 

It has been for many years a chief object of the compiler 
and publisher of this volume to make the State thoroughly 
known to its own people. Prejudices will pass away with 
knowledge, and a united people will work with vigor to 
raise still higher a State of which they have learned that there 
is reason to be proud. The little book published in January 
last — The Woods and Timbers of North Carolina — has 
contributed materially to the end in view, and has also 
contributed largely to the pecuniary interests of the State. 
It is hoped that greater good may come from this second 
volume of a series of industrial books, in that it will place 
within reach of home people and people abroad the knowl- 
edge that North Carolina contams inexhaustible supplies of 
coal and iron of superior quality. These are the raw 
materials which, developed, make large towns, large mar- 
\ kets, and great and prosperous States. That they exist in 
North Carolina in sufficient abundance, that there is 
abundant powder for their manufacture, and that the way 
to\ market is cheap and certain, the papers here collected 
malfe very plain. 

,, August 15, 1883. 



CONTENTS. 



PART I.- -The Coal and Iron. 

Page. 

The Coal Fields, - - Emmons, - - - 11 

Deep Eiver Coal, - - " - - - 19 

Dan Eiver Coal, - - * ' - - - 45 

Coal Deposites, - - Kerr, - - - 52 

The Ores of Iron, - - Emmons, - 55 

The Ores of Iron, - - Kerr, - - 73 

Deep River Timber and Mmerals, XazcZ/e//, - - - 139 

Deep River Region, - Wilkes, - - ~ 147 

PART II.— Coal and Iron Counties. 

Piedmont and tlie Mountains. Neic Englander, - 185 

From the Sea to the Ridge. Kerr, - - - 216 

Transnaontane Counties. 

Mitchell, - - - J. D. Cameron, - 236 

Yancey, . . - '• _ . 237 

Buncombe, - - - " - - 239 

Madison, . . . " - - 243 

Henderson, - - - " - - 245 

Transylvania, - - " - - 247 

Haywood, . - - " . . 248 

Jackson, . . - " . . 250 

Macon, . . . '^ - - 251 

Macon, - - - Wm. Beal, - - 252 

Clay, ... - . - 253 

Cherokee, - - - " _ . 253 



VI 


CONTENTS. 




Graham, 


Wm. Beal. 


253 


Haywood, 


" - - 


253 


Jackson, 


u 


253 


Swain, 


u _ _ 


253 


Alleghany, - 


E. L. Vaughan, 


258 


Ashe, 


- - J. W. Todd, - - 


261 


Watauga, 


W. W. Lenoir, 


262 


Mitchell, 


J. H. Greene, - 


2^2 


Henderson, - 


W. W. Jones,^ - 


264 


Wilkes County, - 


Rev. R. W. Barber, 


265 


Caldwell, 


- - M. V. Moore, - - 


270 


Burke, 


- - S. McD. Tate, - - 


278 


Cleveland, 


H. F. SchencJc, 


282 


Lincoln, 


a 


284 


Gaston, 


W. A. Graham, - 


286 


Catawba, 


R. K. Bryan, 


287 


Iredell, 


J. P. Caldwell, 


289 


Alexander, 


u 


291 


Yadkin, 


t< 


292 


Surry, 


it 


293 


Stokes, 


E. T. B. Glenn, 


294 


Forsyth, 


C. B. Watson. 


296 


Davidson, 


M. H. Pimiix, 


298 


Davie, 


L. S. Overman, 


301 


Eowan, 


u 


302 


Cabarrus, 


p. B. Means, - 


304 


Mecklenburg, 


Wm. Johnston, 


312 


a 


Chas. R. Jones, 


317 


Anson, 


R. T. Bennett. 


326 


Montgomery, 


a a Wade, - 


329 


Randolph, 


Lyndon Swaim, 


333 


Guilford, 


a 


338 


Rockingham, 


J. D. Glenn, 


344 


Person, 


J. W. Cimingham, - 


347 


Orange, 


- - K. P. Battle, 


349 



CONTENTS. Vll 

Durham, - - W. W. Fuller, - 351 

Chatham, - - - M. Q. Waddell, - 353 

Moore, ... Mc Tver & Black, - 355 

Eichmond, - - - W. L. Steele, - - 357 

Cumberland, - - - Jona. Evans, - - 361 

Harnett, - - - J. P. Hodges, - - 364 

Johnston, - - - M. Q. Waddell, - 371 

Wake, - - - B. B. Haywood, - 371 

" ' - - A.W. Shaffer, - 375 

GranviUe, - - -, A. H. A. Williams, 376 

Vance, - - - JR. Young, - - 379 

Franklin, - - - J. J. Davis, - - 382 

HaUfax, - - - W.R. Bond, - - 386 

N»sh, - - - A.W. Bridgers, - 387 

WUson, - - - J. E. Woodard, - 389 

The Census Figures. 

Alexander County, 393 

Alamance, 393 

Alleghany, 394 

Anson, 395 

Ashe, - - 395 

Buncombe, 396 

Burke, 396 

Cabarrus, 397 

CaldweU, - - - - - - - - 398 

Catawba, 398 

Chatham, 399 

Cherokee, 399 

Clay, 400 

Cleveland, 401 

Cumberland, 401 

Davidson, - 402 

Davie, 402 

Forsyth, ' - - - 403 



Franklin, ----.... 404 

Gaston, - 404 

Graham, 405 

Granville, 405 

Guilford, 406 

Halifax, 406 

Harnett, ........ 407 

Haywood, 408 

Henderson, - 408 

Iredell, 409 

Jackson, - - - 409 

Johnston, ...-.---. 410 

Lincoln, 411 

McDowell, - - ~ - - - - - 411 

Macon, - 412 

Madison, 412 

Mecklenburg, 413 

Mitchell, .--.-... 414 

Montgomery, 414 

Moore, - - - - 415 

Nash, - - ., - 415 

Orange, - 416 

Person, - 417 

Eandolph, . - - 417 

Richmond, .-«-..-. 4I8 

Rockingham, -------- 418 

Rowan, - - - = 419 

Stokes, 420 

Surry, - - - 420 

Swain, 421 

Transylvania, 421 

Wake, - - - - 422 

Watauga, 423 

Wilkes, - - - - 423 

Wilson, - - - - 424 

Yadkin, --------- 424 

Yancey, - - 425 

Map of North Carolina, ------ 



PART I 



THE COAL AND IRON 



OF 



NORTH CAROLINA. 



The Coal Fields. 



[Emmons's Preliminary Report, 1852.] 

The Deep River coal field is in the fonn of a 
trough. The inferior rocks extend further than 
the superior. They may be regarded as beginning 
in Granville County, in a wedge-form, or pointed 
mass. The northwest and west outcrop runs, at 
first, west of south ; and passes through a part of 
Wake, and sends up a short arm to within three 
miles of Chapel Hill. 

The direction of the outcrop has gradually 
changed to south, 50° west. This direction is 
very nearly preserved to the South Carolina line. 
The outcrop is about six miles west of Carthage. 

In this coal-field, the uplift has been made upon 
the northwest side. Its line of demarkation is 
distinct ; — while, upon the southeast side, there is 
no outcrop. All that is in view, is the superior 
rocks, still dipping southwest — their lower edges 
being concealed beneath a thick mass of soil. 

The dip is slightly variable — being, on the 
south side of Deep River, south 60° east. North 
of the river, it is south 50° east. At the easterly 
end, at Farmville, south 10° west. At Horne- 
ville, south 45° west. These last were taken from 
the coal-slates, where a change has taken place, 
which is due to the position of the outer and 
easterly edge of the trough, as it is turning west- 



V2 COAL AND IRON OF NOKTH CAROLmA. 

wardiy ; and. where tlie uplifting forces have 
acted upon the other side, the angle of dip varies 
from 10°, in the upper strata of the sandstone, to 
25° in the inferior beds ; and may, probably, ex- 
ceed 30° at some points of the outer edge, near 
the rocks upon which they repose. 

The lithological characters of the whole system 
furnish considerable variety. But they may be 
classed as conglomerates ; sandstones, soft and 
hard, gray, red, and variegated, or mottled ; and 
green and black slates ; with certain subordinate 
beds. 

QUALITY OF THE DEEP RIVER COAL. 

The two varieties of coal, the bituminous and 
semi-bituminous, passing into anthracite, are 
known in this coal-field. The bituminous is 
scarcely equaled for fineness and excellency in 
this country, and it has been said by a gentleman, 
who is well acquainted with Liverpool coal, that 
it will burn twice as long. A direct comparison 
has not been made, to my knowledge, but that 
the assertion has much truth in it, I have no 
doubt. 

The Deep River coal is, in the first place, quite 
free from smut ; it does not soil the fingers, but in 
a trifling degree. It burns freely, and forms a 
cake ; or it undergoes a semi-fusion, and aggluti- 
nates, and forms a partially impervious hollow 
cake, within which combustion goes on for a long 
time. When a small pile of it is made upon the 
ground, it may be ignited by a match and a few 
dry leaves or sticks. It may be ignited in the 
blaze of a lamp or candle. The coal is, therefore, 
highly combustible, easily ignited, and burns with 
a bright flame like light wood, for a long time. It 



COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 13 

may be burnt upon wood fire. It may be burnt 
in the common fire-place, and it is not a little 
strange that gentlemen, who have used it for 
many years, in a blacksmith's forge, should not 
have used it in their parlors, instead of green 
black oak. 

This coal is adapted to all the purposes for 
which the bituminous coals are specially employed. 
Thus, for the manufacture of the carburetted 
hydrogen, for lighting streets and houses, there is 
no coal superior to it. It will require less ex- 
pense for furnishing it ; because it contains so 
little sulphur, from which sulphuretted hydrogen 
is formed. So, also, in the grate, it will be far 
less offensive, for the same reason. But, as it is 
rich in bitumen, it will furnish a large amount of 
gas, and that which is, comparatively, pure. This 
advantage is one of great importance. It should 
also be stated that it furnishes an excellent coke, 
which may be used for manufacturing purposes, 
and as it is left very porous, it is in a condition 
to absorb a large quantity of the solution of 
cyanide of potassium ; and hence, is well adapted 
to the work of reducing the metals. It is scarcely 
necessary to add, that it is admirably adapted to 
steamings, inasmuch as its fiame is free and 
durable. For forge use, it is not surpassed by 
any coal in market ; and for parlor grates, it is 
both pleasant, economical, and free from dirt. 
If a chimney has a poor draft, it is liable to the 
objection common to all coals of this kind — the 
escape of soot into the room. 

The qualities of the Deep River coal are of that 
character, then, which will give it the highest 
place in the market. The localities which have 
been best explored, and where coal of a decided 



14 COAL AKD IRON" OF NOETH CAROLINA. 

character has been attained, are at Horneville and 
Farmville, both in the same neighborhood. The 
Taylor mine, the Gulf or Haughton, and the 
Murchison mines, all furnish a bituminous coal, 
which may vary in some minor points, yet is quite 
similar as a whole. The Haughton mine has been 
used the longest. It was known in the revolution, 
and a report made to Congress, respecting it, is 
still extant. Had the propositions or views been 
carried out, which were expressed in that report, 
we can scarcely tell what the results would have 
been, not only upon the population of Deep 
Kiver but also upon the enterprise of the State. 
It must be noticed that Deep River is central, and 
in the interior of a country abounding in iron ; 
that it is navigable, by aid of certain improve- 
ments ; that it communicates with the ocean, and 
finds a market abroad, for a surplus of the pro- 
ducts of manufactures and agriculture ; that a use 
of the natural advantages, to a partial extent 
only, makes a home market. But the time had 
not come for imj)roving the resources of this dis- 
trict. They are, therefore, reserved entire for the 
present, and they cannot be neglected longer, un- 
less a suicidal State policy is pursued. 

But however fine and excellent a coal may be, 
it is necessary that it should form extensive beds, 
in order to have a commercial value. 

THE COAL SUPPLY. 

The next question, then, of interest to the com- 
munity is, (for the community is interested as 
much as the owners,) will it bear mining, and the 
expenditure of the necessary capital to take it to 
market ? To answer this question, it is necessary 



COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 15 

to make some calculations by whicli we may form 
a just view of its quantity. In doing this we may 
venture to assume, on a geological basis, that the 
coal seams, which outcrop from beneath the sand- 
stones, extend beneath them, and for what ap- 
pears to the contrary the slates, with their coal 
beds, are co-extensive with the under and over- 
lying sandstones. This formation is known to 
form a belt of rocks, from 12 to 14 miles wide. 
The line of outcrops of the slates, upon which 
coal has been raised, is about 20 miles. But the 
line oi outcrop of the unexplored slate, which 
embraces the coal, is at least 60 miles within the 
State, on a line running south of west. We may 
assume the following data, viz. : that the coal beds 
extend from their northern outcrop, three miles 
beneath the sandstone, whicli is about one- third 
their natural extent ; and that the line of outcrop 
upon which coal is and will be found, is thirty 
miles. If the thickest seam of coal is worked, 
which has a thickness of 6 feet, exclusive of a 
thin band of slate, it will give for every square 
yard of surface, two square yards of coal. A 
square acre has 4,900 superficial yards ; hence, 
there will be 9,800 square yards of coal in each 
acre, and as a square yard of coal weighs a ton, 
there will be for every acre, 9,800 tons of coal. A 
thousand acres will give 9,800,000 tons of coal, or 
a square mile, 6,272,000 tons. This coal field is 
known to extend thirty miles, in the direction of 
outcrop, and to be workable for a breadth of 
three miles. We may, from this data, calculate 
how much accessible coal we may expect to find 
' in this quite limited field. If the field covers only 
43 square miles, the lowest estimate to be taken, 
we may calculate its value by the following mode : 



16 COAL AND lEON OF NOETH CAROLINA. 

If one hundred tons of coal are taken o]it daily, 
thirty thousand tons would be removed annually, 
reckoning three hundred working days to the year. 
It would, at this rate, require over three hundred 
years to remove the coal from a thousand acres, 
or, over two hundred years to remove that which 
underlies a square mile, or, eight thousand six 
hundred years, to remove the coal of forty- three 
square miles. If in estimating the value of this 
coal-field, we base our calculations upon time, 
they should satisfy us, or, if we base them upon 
quantity, they will warrant the investment of cap- 
ital. In these calculations we have both time and 
quantity ; and the State, in encouraging improve- 
ments, as well as individuals, may look forward 
with confidence on the permanency and safety 
in investments in this kind of property. The 
wants of the world are with the population — in- 
deed, they keep ahead of simple increase of indi- 
viduals. The quantity to be removed annually 
may be increased, and leave the time sufficiently 
long, to satisfy the investment of capital ; or the 
time may be increased by diminishing the quan- 
tity, and still the annual profits of the investment 
should satisfy the capitalist. But while popula- 
tion increases at a rapid rate, the resources of the 
forest for fuel are diminishing at a greater ratio 
than the simple increase of population ; therefore, 
there is no way in which capital can be so safely 
invested as in coal lands. 

If the foregoing calculations are correct, they 
justify the work which has been undertaken to 
improve the navigation of Deep River. It is pru- 
dence to be cautious in schemes of this kind, but 
in this case the amount of property beneath the 
surface or in the rocks, upon this river, is enor- 



COAL Atijy IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 17 

mous — it should be dug out ; and what it costs 
to do this, will be turning materials and labor in- 
to money. If the whole enterj)rise is begun, and 
carried on in a proper spirit, every nook and cor- 
ner of the State, from Currituck to Buncombe, 
will feel an invigoratiug influence. 

But the calculation as to the quantity of coal, 
will probably far exceed, than fall short of the 
estimates. In the first place only a part of the 
area is taken into the calculation, and then, in 
assuming the thickness of the principal beds 
as only six feet, it may be regarded as only the 
minimum thickness. It will rather increase than 
diminish ; this view of the matter is supported 
by observation. For as the sloiDes have been car- 
ried along the dip, there has been a percepti- 
ble increase already. It is also to be considered, 
that at the outcrop, when vegetable matter forming 
the coal is only ux)on the outer vein, it should be 
twice that at a distance from the outcrop ; for we 
may suppose that in the middle only of a coal 
basin, do we obtain the maximum thickness. 
Thus one of the coal seams in the Richmond ba- 
sin is forty feet thick. The Deep River beds, not 
having been broken up, or not having suffered an 
uplift through the middle of its trough or basin, 
exhibits nowhere near the surface, an outcrop of 
coal, except topon the rimy or outer edge of the 
basin. As we penetrate into it, we have grounds 
which justify the view, that the seams will increase 
steadily in thickness, as the slope penetrates into 
the basin, towards the center, and then the seams, 
which now appear only upon the outer rim, will 
thicken and perhaps unite and form one distinct 
heavy seam towards the middle of the basin 
or trough. 



18 COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

The foregoing views as to quantity are founded 
upon data derived from observation, the phenom- 
ena of coalfields, and theory, which is well sus- 
tained, respecting the manner in which suc- 
cessive seams of coal have been formed. 
The calculations as to the quantity of coal in 
the Deej) River coal-field are based upon what is 
known, and without reference to what we may 
possibly find by exploration hereafter. These 
calculations must be regarded as satisfactory, and 
such as will justify the hopes and expectations of 
the owners, and those who are interested in the 
improvements of the day. 

THE DAN RIVER COAL FIELD. 

In Rockingham and Stokes Counties, a series 
of rocks have been known for a quarter of a cen- 
tury, as coal- bearing. These rocks are similar 
to those of Deep River, and consist of the same 
members. They lie in the same order and have 
the same relations to each other, as those of 
Chatham and Moore, or Deep River. 

The several parts constituting a comx)lete and 
perfect system, occujjy a synclinal trough, and 
Ue in the primary or stratified pyro-crj^stalline 
rocks. Its direction is northeast and southwest. 
The axis may be defined by uniting Leaksville 
and Germanton by a line. This line will represent 
the direction of the coal slates. 

The general dip of the system is to the north- 
west ; — the angle of dip lies between 15 and 40^. 
The dip is usually above 20°. In North Carolina 
the rocks extend 40 miles. The breadth is between 
four and seven miles. The system extends into 
Virginia on the north ; bnt how far, I am unin- 
formed. 



COAL AND IRON OF NOIITII CAKOLTNA. 19 

This field, it will be observed, covers a smaller 
area than Deep River. It is similar, in some re- 
spects, to the Richmond coal fields, but is discon- 
nected by the intervening primary rocks. 

The attention which has been given to the 
Dan River coal field, has as yet been too inconsid- 
erable to develop its riches. It appears that 
from Leaksville to Germanton, coal is exposed at 
several points, besides at the extremes of the form- 
ation, leaving out of view its extension into Vir- 
ginia. 



The Deep River Coal Field. 



[Emmons's Report, 1856.] 

It is evidently important to determine the area 
over which a coal series extends. Their import- 
ance or value rests upon such a determination 
when their value to the public at large is to be 
decided and especially when large ex]penditures 
are required to convey it to market. It has been 
maintained that this coal field is of little value 
to the immediate country in which it is situated. 
This view is undoubtedly erroneous, though the 
fact upon which it is founded may be true. For 
the warming of houses, for example, it may not 
be necessary, in consequence of the forests which 
still remain, and the rapidity with which they 
are renewed when removed for tillage ; yet coal 
is important in the arts, it is important as a fuel 
everywhere in conducting most branches of manu- 
facturing industry. It is so, because it is cheaper 



20 COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

and better adapted to many pursuits than wood or 
charcoal. The coal, therefore, is important in 
the immediate neighborhood where it is found, 
inasmuch as it is the best or cheapest fuel which 
can be employed in the manufacture of iron. It 
is taken for granted, that the people require ad- 
ditional means for getting their produce to mar- 
ket. The time has come when the ordinary means 
of transportation of the produce of the plantation 
must be superseded by those which are more rapid 
and certain, and which can be relied upon for 
quantity ; so also, those which cheapen transpor- 
tation must be constructed, if the country wishes 
to prosper. The manufacture of iron, therefore, 
by means of coal, does not presuppose that new and 
expensive means of transportation to market for 
its own accommodation. It comes in, however, in 
aid of those means which the planter and farmer 
require, whether manufacturing projects are de- 
vised and carried into execution or not. 

The coal of Deep Kiver will be useful at home, 
and may be explored for domestic manufacturing 
with profit, although the country in its immediate 
neighborhood is well wooded. When this view 
is taken in connection with the fact that it may 
also be transported to market with the ordinary 
13rofits of this business, the value of the coal field 
begins to assume its importance. 

GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT OF THE COAL MEASURES. 

The first statement respecting the geographical 
extent of this series with which the coal stands 
connected, is that relating to the sandstones, 
which occupy a much larger area than that part 
of the series which contains the coal, or which 
has been called the coal measures. 



COAL AND lEON OF NORTH CAROLINA « 21 

The rocks occupy a deep depression in the old- 
est sedimentary slates. In whatever direction the 
series is approached, this fact becomes percei3ti- 
ble ; the outer border is always below the sur- 
rounding country; and to reach the sandstones, 
there is a descent both on the north-western and 
south-eastern sides. This long valley, prior to 
the deposition of the rocks which now occupy it, 
must have been very deep. This is evident from 
the fact that the series is very thick. 

This valley is now isolated or cut off from those 
in which similar formations are known to exist. 
It is therefore an independent one, so far as the 
Dan River or the Richmond series are concerned. 
The long axis of this valley is parallel, approxi- 
mately at least with both, though it has no con- 
nection with either. I have traced this valley, 
with its sandstones, from a point about six miles 
from Oxford, in Granville County, across the 
State in a south-westerly direction. It passes 
into South Carolina, about six or seven miles, 
where it terminates. Within the State its length 
is about one hundred and twenty miles. Its 
breadth is variable. Where it terminates near 
Oxford, in Granville County, it is very narrow, or 
indeed runs to a j)oint. The widest j)art is between 
Raleigh and Chapel Hill, on the line of which it 
is eighteen miles wide. On the Neuse it is twelve. 
On the Cape Fear, between Jones' Falls and the 
Buckhorn, it scarcely exceeds six miles. This is 
one of the narrowest places of the series ; it widens 
rapidly in a north-easterly and south-westerly di- 
rection, till, towards Chapel Hill, or rather east- 
ward of that place, it becomes eighteen miles, as 
stated, from which it soon diminishes in breadth. 
From Capt. E. Bryan' s at Jones' Falls, the direc- 



22 COAL AND IKOiSr OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

tion ot the western margin, for abont six miles, 
is about south-west. Soon afterward its course is 
more westerly, and even sweeps around and takes 
a northerly course ; but afterwards resumes a 
south-Avest course into South Carolina, after cross- 
ing the corner of Union County. The auriferous 
slates may be observed at numerous places on the 
north-western border. The exceptions which have 
fallen under my notice show the series in a meta- 
morphic condition. At Capt. Bryan' s, a belt of 
chert and porphyry rises from beneath the sand- 
stones, and extends seven or eight miles in a north- 
easterly direction. A similar belt also rises up 
from beneath the same series one-and-a-half miles 
northerly from the Gulf, on the jplankroad, and 
pursues a course parallel with the former. This 
is probably a repetition of the series at Jones' 
Falls. But the unchanged slates emerge in an 
uncomformable position at numerous places in 
Chatham and Moore Counties, among which I may 
mention the millstone quarries on the waters of 
Richland Creek, the tributaries of Indian Creek 
within one mile of Evans' bridge, and on the road 
leading to Salem, and again about a mile above 
the mouth of Line Creek, which enters Deep River 
not far above the same bridge. An imjDortant 
point which exhibits the junction of the series is 
about one- and-a-half miles from Farm ville, on the 
Pittsborough road, where a deep ravine divides 
the lower conglomerate and red sandstone from 
the slates of the Taconic system. The slates, as 
usual, dip nearly to the north-west at a high angle, 
while the sandstones dip from them, or southerly, 
at a very moderate inclination. An interesting 
exposure of the inferior beds of these sediments, 
resting upon the slates, occurs at the quarry of 



COAL AjVTD iron OF NORTH CAROLINA. 23 

Mr. Seawell, where the conglomerate or millstone 
lias been entirely removed, by which an interven- 
ing stratum of clay which rests upon the edges of 
the slate is exposed. The conglomerate or mill- 
stone grit is about forty feet thick. It dips at an 
angle of seventeen or eighteen degrees, and to the 
south-east. On the north-west side it appears, 
from observation, to repose upon the gold slates, 
especially all of it south of Orange County ; or 
upon rocks of the same series, and which have 
been changed, or have been porphyritic. The 
width of the lower sandstone on the north-west 
side, beyond its junction with the bituminous 
slates, varies at different places ; it is from three- 
fourths of a mile to three miles. Small fields are 
still further removed, but they are usually isolated, 
and cut off by protecting ridges of the older 
slates. The largest field Avhich is thus isolated is 
in Anson county. 

The south-east margin is concealed through all 
that part which lies south-west of Cape Fear River 
but at several points near the margin where the 
auriferous slates make their appearance. In 
Anson County, one mile-and-a-half south-east of 
Wadesborough, the red sandstones dip gently to 
the west. But the characters which these rocks 
exhibit indicate that it is the upper sandstone 
which is thus prolonged. It resembles that of 
Brassfields sixteen miles from Raleigh, on the 
Hillsborough road, where the sandstones become 
calcareous and somewhat nodular. But neither 
place furnishes fossils, and hence the criteria by 
which to judge of their identity are indecisive. I 
would not make the statement respecting this 
question without reservation. Yet, those calca- 
reous concretions seem to belong to the upper 



24 COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

mass at Brassfields, and those near Wadesboroiigii 
closely resemble them. The south-east side, from 
its crossing of the Cape Fear to the Pee Dee, is 
usually covered with the tertiary sands. We are 
unable, therefore, to learn the character of this 
margin, whether it is horizontal, or dips away or 
towards the axis of the formation. There is no 
exposure by which the position of the coal measures 
can be determined ; this part of the series does 
not appear on this side ; there is no iDositive fact 
from which we can judge of its existence at all ; 
and this becomes still more obscure, in conse- 
quence of the facts which have been already 
stated, which have led me to believe that it is the 
upper sandstone which is prolonged, and forms 
the extreme points of the formation. Hence, it is 
not improbable that the upper sandstone extends 
beyond the coal measures, and conceals them 
from observation. If so, there are no inducements 
of sufficient value which would warrant the ex- 
penditure of capital in attempting to obtain them 
upon the south-east side. North of the Cape 
Fear, as the formation passes onward through 
Orange into Granville County, the south-east side 
is equally unpromising for coal ; while on the 
north-west side, about six miles from Chapel Hill, 
in the neighborhood of Mr. Moring' s, in Chatham 
County, there is an exjDosure of black slate, con ■ 
taining the common fossils of this part of the coal 
measures. But this exposure is limited ; and from 
this locality the indications of the presence ^of 
coal cannot be discovered, or they are merely lig- 
nite beds, which are the products of a single con- 
iferous tree. It is not difficult to distinguish these 
appearances from those which accompany the 
coal seams. In the former, its speedy removal 



COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 25 

from its bed should be sufficient to satisfy every 
reasonable mind, though many still persist in see- 
ing a coal seam in a flattened stem of an ancient 
tree, provided it is fully carbonized. 

We find the coal measures confined mostly to 
the central part of the sandstones, where they 
traverse the counties of Chatham and Moore. 
The formation pursues a westerly course, parallel 
with the general direction of Deep River. The 
outcrop crosses the river between Evander Mclver' s 
and the Horneville proj)erty, thence by Farmville, 
it crosses the river obliquely at Egypt, and soon 
recrosses it again near the fish-trap, and passes 
into the Taylor plantation. It continues on the 
north side of the river until it passes the planta- 
tion of Mr. Murchison from which it crosses it 
again for the last time into the plantation of 
Mr. Fooshee, where the coal series is well devel- 
oped, three or four seams of good coal having been 
exposed by several excavations directly over the 
outcrop of the seams. The direction of the outcrop 
of the coal seams from Murchison' s to 'Fooshee' s 
is S. 54° W., which may be taken as the direction 
which the north-western margin pursues for the 
next eight or ten miles ; after which the direction 
is about S. 45° W. The extent of the coal seams 
in this direction is not determined. The features 
of the formation are still favorable for their con- 
tinuance. The coal seams upon the plantation of 
Mr. Fooshee are equal in thickness, and possess 
qualities of the same nature as those of Egypt. 
There are, therefore, grounds for the expectation 
of its continuance still further in this direction. 
But the outcrop of the series is concealed, and re- 
quires the expenditure of capital to test the cor- 
rectness of this expectation. 



26 COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Tlie whole lengtli of tlie outcrop, following its 
windings, is about thirty miles. The extreme 
point beyond Evander Mclver's, where the coal 
seams have been discovered, is at Martin Dyer's, 
where a boring cut a seam near the outcro]3 ten 
inches thick. The locality still further north- 
eastward in this direction, known as the Rhiney 
Wicker's property, but owned by Mr. Ellington, 
does not belong to the same series as the Egypt 
and other seams, whose value has been tested. 
The Ellington seam is in connection with the plant 
bed I have spoken of, and undoubtedly belongs to 
the upper sandstone. Ifc is less than three inches 
thick, and therefore of no importance. I have 
spoken of this locality in former reports, but had 
not visited it. When, however, I had an oppor- 
tunity to examine the character of the beds in 
which it occurs, I was satisfied it was wholly un- 
connected with the true coal measures of the lower 
series. The existence of coal seams has, there- 
fore, been determined by the auger, and by exca- 
vations from Martin Dyer's to Mr. Fooshee's, on 
the south side of the Deep River, in Moore County. 
The coal slates are known to be x3rolonged in each 
direction from these points ; and though the exis- 
tence of the coal seams in the prolonged slate may 
be questioned, still, there are no reasons for their 
immediate discontinuance. It should, however, be 
stated here, that the slates beyond Martin Dyer's 
are known only for about two miles, where they are 
accompanied with fine beds of argillaceous oxide of 
iron. But they extend much further to the south- 
west, and nearly to the Great Pee Dee. But their 
thickness is diminished at Drowning Creek, and 
there are no exposures of iron ore. Beyond the 
Great Pee Dee, in Anson county, the black slates. 



COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 27 

if they occur at all, are feeble or thin ; though this 
plat of the formation may be concealed by the 
deep soil of the valley, still the prospects for find- 
ing coal are not encouraging. My opinion with 
respect to the extent of the coal is, that it will 
be prolonged about ten miles ; that it will turn out 
that the continuous outcrop will be^ ultimately, 
about forty miles ; that it will be extended further 
in a south-west than in a north-east direction is 
rendered probable, from the fact, that in the latter 
direction I am unable to perceive that the seams 
show any signs of giving out ; and it is in this di- 
rection that the black slate is extended much 
further than in the others I have referred to. 



QUALITY OF THE DEEP EIVER COAL. 

The quality of the coal is of a high order ; it is 
true it is not equal to the Breckinridge coal for 
its volatile matters, but it equals it in its com- 
bustible products. For the purpose of giving a 
greater publicity to the excellent character of this 
coal, I shall make use of the analyses which have 
been made of it, together with others which are 
well known, and which will serve as standards 
for comparison. No one had pursued a lAan so 
thorough as the late Prof. Johnson, whose exx)e- 
rience in this line of investigation was equal, if 
not greater, than any of whom we could boast. 
They are characterized by thoroughness, which 
gives confidence in their accuracy. 

The first analysis of this order was made of the 
coal of the lower seam, at FarmvUle, and recently 
mined. The composition was found to be as 
follows : 



28 OOAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Volatile matter 30.91 

Fixed carbon 50.70 

Earthy matter 18.32 

99.93 

The specific gravity of tlie specimen 1.416. The 
coke of this coal is light and puffy, ashes purplish 
gray. 

A second specimen gave — 

Volatile matter 28.47 

Fixed carbon 64.70 

Earthy matter 6.83 

100,00 

Specific gravity 1.497. Coked very slowly. 
Ashes brownish red. 
A third specimen from the lower seam, gave — 

Volatile matter 30.85 

Fixed carbon 63. 90 

Earthy matter 5.25 

100.00 

Specific gravity 1.415. Ashes white and very 
light. 
The fourth specimen gave — 

Volatile matter . . . , 31.30 

Fixed carbon 64.40 

Earthy matter 4.30 

100.00 

Specific gravity 1.308. Coked slowly. Ashes 
nearly white. 

The foregoing analyses were made of coal taken 
only a few feet from the surface. They are de- 
signed to show, in part, the effect of meteoric in- 
fluences which had necessarily diminished the 
amount of volatile, and increased relatively the 
earthy matters, as well as to increase also the 



COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 29 

quantity of hygrometric water. This coal at 
greater depths is found to sustain this view, as 
will be seen by analyses of coal taken from greater 
depths, and further removed from atmospheric 
influence. 

Coal taken from the deep pit at Egypt, and 
analyzed for me by Dr. Jackson, gave — 

Fixed carbon 63.6 

Carb. Hydrogen gas ... 34.8 

Ashes 1.6 

99.0 

Color of the ashes reddish brown. 

This coal, it is true, was not taken from the 
same place as those whose analyses have been 
given in the preceding paragraphs ; but the Egypt 
and the Farmville coal cannot be distinguished 
from each other, when taken from about the same 
depth. The analysis of the Egyj)t coal shows a 
better quality and an increase of volatile matter, 
and less earth or ash ; probably no analysis shows 
a better composition for all the purposes for which 
coal is employed. Another mode of testing the 
value of coals, is to determine the amount of 
steam which a given quantity of coal will gen- 
erate. Thus Johnson found, by experimr^nt, that 
the steam x^roducing or evaporating power of this 
coal, was equivalent to 8.1 ; or that one pound of 
coal would convert 8.1 pounds of water into 
steam ; and also, that one part, by weight, of 
dried coal, will reduce twenty-six and ninety- 
seven hundredths times its weight of lead. 

The following table of comparison is quoted 
from Prof. Johnson's report, showing the evapo- 
rative and lead producing power of coals taken 
from the different pits of the Richmond basin, 
and certain foreign bituminous coals, which hold 



30 COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



about tlie same rank as to reducing and steam 
producing power. In an economical point of 
view, this comparison is interesting ; showing 
that the coals of the Richmond and Deep River 
basins do not differ materially from each other, 
or from those of the carboniferous period : 



Names of Coal. 



Chesterfield Mining Co. Va. 

New Castle, Eng, 

Clover Hill. Va 

Liverpool, Va 

Pictou, Nova Scotia 

Midlothian, Va. (screened). 

Midlothian (average) 

Pittsburg, Pa 

Farmviile, N. C 



Lead reduced 
by one part 
of Coal. 



25.78 
26.78 
26.96 
27.07 
27.24 
27.28 
27.34 
27,54 
26.97 



Steam gener- 
ated by one 
part of Coal. 



8.99 
8.65 
7.67 
7.84 
8.41 
8.94 
8.29 
8.20 
8.10 



Other foreign, and particularly British coals, 
produce similar results ; the reductive and evapo- 
rative ]30wers do not exceed those of Deep River. 
Thus, according to the results obtained by the 
British Commissioners on coals, the following 
kinds yield the following numbers, expressive of 
their power, as in the foregoing table : 



Names of Coal. 



Broomhill coal 

Coleshill 

Dalkeith Jewel seam . . . 
Three quarter rock vein 

Ponty-Pool 

Bedwas 

Cwm Frood rock vein . . 
Grangemouth 

Averages 



Lead reduced. 



25 32 
26.14 
27.42 
26.62 

27.46 
28.20 
28 30 
28.45 

27.11 



Steam gener- 
ated. 



8.85 
8.00 
7.08 
8.84 
7.47 
9.97 
8.70 
7.40 

8.09 



COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 31 

The composition of tlie Farmville coal, in a raw- 
state, as determined by organic analysis, is as 
follows, the water being determined by a separate 
process, and, as equal to 1.71 per cent.: 

Sulphur 3.30 

Carbon 68.41 

Hydrogen 4.64 

Oxygen 8.37 

Earthy matter 13.60 

Water 1.71 

100.00 

The excess of hydrogen which the foregoing 
analysis exhibits, over and above that which is 
necessary to form water, is equivalent to 3.57 per 
cent. 

The earthy matter in the better specimens of 
the Farmville coal, though taken near the surface, 
where it is less exposed to meteoric influences, is 
only 3.81 per cent., instead of 13.60, where it is 
still more exiDosed ; and an analysis of this coal 
gave Johnson : 

Moisture 2.35 per cent. 

Sulphur 0.22 

Carbon 80.20 

Hydrogen 5.45 

Oxygen and other vol. matter. 7.97 " 
Earthy matter S.si " 

100.00 
Hydrogen in excess 4.46 

The fixed carbon of this variety, when coked 
slowly, is 64.57 per cent. The volatile carbon of 
the 80.20 per cent, is 15.63 per cent. ; which leaves 
the 64.57 as the fixed carbon of the specimen. 
Three thirty-seven hundredths per cent, more 
passes off in vapor when the coal is coked 
rapidly. 



32 COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

The question respecting the presence of in- 
jurious matter in this coal, is also determined by 
the foregoing analyses. Thus, sulphur is in 
jurious in various ways. If present in a large 
quantity when burnt in grates, its odor is ex- 
tremely offensive, and it blackens the several 
articles of furniture which are often used. Twenty - 
five grains triated for sulphur gave 3.3 per cent. 
Another analysis gave 3.20 sulphur. It is evident, 
both from experiment and observation, that the 
sulphur diminishes as the depth increases ; or as 
other foreign matter diminishes, the sulphur also 
becomes less. The sulphur in all the pits appears 
disseminated, and sometimes in lumps, in the 
slate, while I have observed it in the coal seam, 
only in one or two instances, in a visible mass in 
the coal. The impure coals, those which contain 
slate, contain the most sulphur. When the coal 
is therefore pure and free from the foreign inter- 
mixture of slate, coprolites, animal and vegetable 
matter only partially changed, then the sulphur 
is in excess. 

The combustion of this coal, and the ease with 
which it can be ignited, are important qualities. 
It burns briskly with a brilliant and free com- 
bustion. It therefore gives a pleasant and agree- 
able fire in parlor grates. In this respect, I be- 
lieve it is not excelled by any coal now in market. 
This brilliant combustion is attended with a swell- 
ing of the whole mass, by which a good hollow 
fire is maintained, agglutinating as the combus- 
tion proceeds, and ending in the production of a 
light porous coke. It is for these qualities, that 
it is so well adapted to the use of smiths ; and it 
is invariably remarked by them, that they wish 
for no better coal. In market it sells to black- 



COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 33 

smiths for forty cents per bushel. The amount 
of sulphur in the iron of the coal produces in- 
jurious effects in iron which is heated and welded 
by it. It is stated by Johnson, that the sulphur 
will not injure it on shipboard or on shore. 

Sometimes in a rapid combustion of the coal in 
a grate, it melts partially, and exhibits a tendency 
to flow. This fact shows that its volatile matter 
or bitumen is in large proportions. This tendency, 
however, does not exhibit itself in slow com- 
bustion. 

The Breckinridge coal melts and flows when 
igaited. This, however, contains nearly twice as 
much bitumen or volatile matter as the Farmville 
coal. The Breckinridge has about 61 per cent, of 
volatile matter, while that from the Egypt pit has 
only 34.8, or nearly 35 per cent. Whether the 
Deep River coal can be profitably employed for 
the production of coal oil and other matters for 
light, has yet to be determined by a series of well 
conducted experiments. It is desirable thr.t its 
value for light should be determined, but it is 
probable that it cannot compete with several 
richer coals now in market. 

The value of the bituminous coal for the com- 
mon furnaces, seems to be well established ; there 
can be no doubt of its value for warming parlors, 
or for grates, for smith's work of all kinds, being 
both cheaper and more economical than charcoal ; 
that is, at fort^ cents per bushel, it is more eco- 
nomical than charcoal at five cents. The value 
of the semi-bituminous coals is not so well de- 
termined. From several analyses by Johnson, its 
composition near the outcrop has been deter- 
mined. Thus the percentage of volatile and fixed 
matters gave, in 
3 



34 COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

No. 1, Fixed carbon 83.13 

Volatile matter 8.38 

Earthy..... 8.60 

100.00 

The ash is purplish gray. This specimen had 
been long exj)osed to atmospheric influences ; its 
specific gravity 1.45. 

No. 2, Fixed carbon 83.76 

Volatile matter 6.64 

Earthy 9.60 

100.00 

Ashes reddish gray. Specific gravity 1.54. 

No. 3, Fixed carbon 87.18 

Volatile matter 7.35 

Earthy matter 5.47 

100.00 

Specific gravity 1.47. Ash reddish gray. Ob- 
tained from a fresh opening, and taken from the 
2| foot seam. 

In this semi-bituminous coal of George Wil- 
cox's seams, it appears that the volatile matter is 
less than one-fourth of that which belongs to the 
Farmville or Egypt coal. The value of this va- 
riety has not yet been determined ; it is doubtful 
whether the semi-bituminous coals can be carried 
to market, where they will have to compete with 
the Anthracite of Pennsylvania. They have their 
place, however, and will be employe*d for warming 
apartments in the large villages and cities of the 
State, both in grates and coal stoves. These coals 
would be well adapted for the Raleigh and Wil - 
mington markets, or for home consumption ; and 
it is probable, may be employed economically in 
the manufacture oi iron. But the question is not 



COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 35 

yet settled wJietiier these semi-bituminous seams 
are permanent, or may not prove to be locally an- 
thracite or nearly so ; but which may become bi- 
tuminous at greater depths upon the dip of the 
seams, and perhaps even at comparatively small 
depths, the semi-bituminous seam may become a 
bituminous one. As the value of the latter is 
greater, such a result is to be hoped for. 

ECONOMICAL PRODUCTS OF THE COAL FIELDS. 

Industry never lacks materials upon which to 
expend its energy. It is not cupidity which 
ahvays seeks the useful, in the rough quarries of 
nature. The occurrence of one valuable product 
is but a step towards the discovery of another ; 
and we are frequently surprised at the numerous 
wants which are supplied in a single series of sedi- 
ments. In addition to the coal, which is the first 
object of pursuit, and the discovery of which has 
opened the way for others, and which probably 
would be useless were there no coal, iron ore, free 
stones, grindstone grits, and fire-clays, may be 
enumerated. 

The iron ores belong to two or three distinct 
kinds : 

1. The ordinary hydrous peroxides, with argil- 
laceous matter, which are undoubtedly the altered 
products derived from the argillaceous carbonate. 

2. The same kind in appearance, but which is 
magnetic. 

3. The black band of the Scotch miners, and 
which is regarded by a gentleman well acquainted 
with this ore as the BlacJchest of the Scottish 
miners. 

All these kinds appear to be abundant, or to be 
co-extensive with the coal slates. I am not able to 



36 COAL AND lEON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

speak of the extent of the brown magnetic ore 
which occurs upon the plantation of Mr. Tyson. 
It is an interesting anomaly in the way of iron 
ores to find the brown ores, with their ordinary 
aspect, strongly magnetic. I suspect this kind 
may be confined to the surface, inasmuch as, un- 
der the action of light, and perhaps certain atmos- 
pheric influences, the black ores of the older rocks 
become very strong magnets. 

The argillaceous carbonate, when exposed to 
meteoric influence, the hydrous peroxide, with 
argillaceous matter, occurs at the depth of about 
two hundred and thirty feet in the shaft at Egypt. 
It is frequently found outcropping above the coal 
seams, in nodular masses of different forms and 
sizes, and may be employed as a clue to the posi- 
tion of the coal seams ; inasmuch, as there are no 
known bituminous seams above the iron ore beds. 
The principal seams are below ; but inasmuch as 
there is another outcropping of iron below the 
seams, about thirty-four yards distant, it is neces- 
sary to be on guard, so as not to be led astray by 
the inferior beds of iron. These outcropping beds 
of iron ore at the Gfulf are undoubtedly the seams 
of black band, belonging to the next seam of coal 
below the main seam, which at Egypt is thirty 
feet below in the shaft. But this ore, though 
traces of its outcropping may be seen at several 
places, is not always to be found upon the surface. 
It is rarely as strong at any place as at the Gulf. 

The argillaceous carbonate occurs in balls, and 
in continuous beds. They are adjacent to each 
other. The color of the ore is gray or drab : it 
effervesces with acids, and is somewhat silicious : 
and certain parts of the seams of ore are tough. It 
differs in no respect from the argillaceous carbon- 



COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 37 

ate of tlie carboniferous series. It contains about 
thirty-three per cent, of metallic iron. The sur- 
face ores being altered, the carbonates contain 
fifty per cent, of metallic iron. This is not too 
large a percentage to be estimated for the mag- 
netic ores of the Tyson plantation. Of the quan- 
tity of these carbonates there can be no doubt ; 
since they occur along the entire outcrop of the 
slates of the coal series. A very beautiful and 
rich kind is found at Benjamin Wicker's, beyond 
the known limits of the coal seam ; so, at the other 
extreme, at Murchison's, it is still in place, and 
holding the same relations as at the Gulf, at 
Egypt, orMcIver's. 

I am unable to distinguish the black band from 
the argillaceous carbonate, where it has been sub- 
jected to meteoric influences. I have, heretofore, 
maintained and expressed the opinion, that there 
were two bands of the ore under consideration ; 
one above and the other below the main coal 
seam ; but the shaft at Egypt proves the existence 
of the black band accompanying the little coal 
seam ; and hence, it is probable that what appears 
to be argillaceous carbonate is the black band, 
changed by exposure to the air. There is, proba- 
bly, only two bands of the argillaceous carbonate 
— the continuous band or seam, and the band of 
iron balls in proximity with each other. 

This is mined with great ease and facility. 
Although hard and difficult to penetrate with the 
auger, yet, w^hen the slate beneath the band is 
taken out tons of it fall into the pit at once. The 
expense, therefore, of mining is trifling, under the 
circumstances ; and hence there is no reason for 
doubting the feasibility of making iron from it at 
a profit. 



38 COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

The black band invariably accompanies tlie 
coal seams. There are now known three seams of 
it ; one between the main coal seams, another im- 
mediately below, and a third, equally important, 
accompanying the little coal seam thirty feet be- 
low the former, and from which it is separated by 
slates and gritty fire-clay, fifteen feet thick. 

The black band owes its high value as an ore to 
the facility with which it is converted into pig, 
and the quality of the pig produced from it. The 
ore itself is black and somewhat massive, as a 
slate ; fracture compact and even, or only slightly 
conchoidal. It would be mistaken for a heavy 
massive slate. 

This ore was first discovered at Farmville ; but 
it was not suspected to be the Scotcli Mack band ; 
but that it would prove available ore there could 
be no doubt. Mr. Paton, a gentleman of great 
experience in iron-making, first suggested to Mr. 
McLane the character of the ore. Examination 
proved the correctness of the gentleman's opinion 
already referred to. When roasted it is strongly 
magnetic, and probably the brown magnetic ore 
of Tyson's is only an altered black band, as it 
occurs also in layers, or in the form of a fissile 
ferruginous slate. 

The composition of the black band was deter- 
mined for me by my friend Dr. Jackson. It is 
composed of, 

Carbon 31.30 

Peroxide of iron 47.50 

Silex 9.00 

Bitumen and water 8.81 

Sulphur 3,39 

100.00 

The roasted ore yields only 0.89 per cent, of 



COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 39 

sulphur. Sulphur, as in the case of the slate, 
seems to attach itself to the slaty parts of the 
mass ; but I should have expected also a small 
percentage of phosphoric acid, seeing that copro- 
lites are very common in the black band. The 
fossils of the black band, too, are more abundant 
than in the slate ; it is at the junction of this ore 
with the coal that the saurian teetK occur in the 
greatest abundance, especially in that stratum 
which intervenes between the coal seams. 

This ore becomes important, in consequence of 
the facility of its conversion into pig. I am not 
able to say whether the 89 hundredths per cent, 
of sulphur in the roasted ore is sufficient to exert 
much influence in the furnace product ; probably 
not. In the progress of mining the black band is 
so closely connected with the coal, that it will nec- 
essarily be raised ; and hence a valuable ore will 
be obtained at the surface, with only a trifling ad- 
ditional cost over that which attends the mining 
and raising of the coal only. 

Prom the occurrence of this ore, the minei 'il re- 
sources or the wealth of the coalfield is very much 
increased. We may, therefore, congratulate the 
friends of the Deep River improvement, and those 
of the mining interest of the country, of this acces • 
sion of valuable products, which must secure for 
this region important establishments for the manu- 
facture of iron. 

In connection with the subject of iron ores, I 
may very properly introduce those which are de- 
nominated materials for construction, such as free- 
stones and fire-clays. The red and purple sand- 
stones abound, in the lower red sandstone, with 
beds suitable for building stone. The color of 
these beds, whatever it may be, is lively and in- 



40 COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

viting. Indeed no difference can be discovered 
between those of Deep Eiver and those of the 
Hudson River or the Connecticut River sandstone. 
As these beds are extensive, they furnish, at many 
points, stone of a suitable quality for any purpose 
v^hich may be required. 

The fire-clcuys, though they are not found be- 
neath every coal seam, still are common in con- 
nection with the coal, and between the main and 
little seams. It is well known that they are im- 
portant for fire-brick and other kindred purposes, 
where a refractory article is required. We find 
not only coal, but also fire-clay, bands of iron 
both nodular and in continuous beds, but even 
the rarer ore, the black hand, which is found only 
in the coal measures of Europe. 

Millstones. — Beneath the red sandstone the 
conglomerate is so perfectly consolidated that it 
forms a valuable millstone. This is made up 
almost entirely of compacted quartz pebbles, 
which are so firmly imbedded that their fracture 
is often directly across the axis of the pebble, 
where it would be expected to break out. These 
pebbles are derived from the quartz veins of the 
Taconic system, and hence, consist of milky 
quartz. 

The beds vary in thickness from six inches to 
eighteen, or even two feet. 

The stone is adapted to the grinding of indian 
corn. They are said to be better cornstones than 
the French Buhrstone ; for grinding wheat, the 
latter have been always preferred, as they are far 
less liable to heat the flour. Several quarries are 
opened in Moore County, and from them the 
country is principally supplied. The conglomer- 
ate at or near the base of the upper sandstone is 



COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 41 

less consolidated, and is not so well adapted to 
the formation of millstones. Tlie thickness of 
the beds is from forty to sixty feet ; but it is a 
mass which thins ont, and hence its thickness at 
several points is extremely variable. The lower 
sandstone, with its conglomerates, is better devel- 
oped in the south-west part of Moore County than 
elsewhere. We find, even at the Gulf, the con- 
glomerate ceases to be an important stratum. 

As a whole, the mass is made up of rounded 
pebbles in beds of variable thickness, which are 
separated from each other by finer and softer va- 
rieties. The conglomerates rest almost immedi- 
ately and unconformably upon the slates of the 
Taconic system. A circumstance worthy of note, 
is the fact that the pebbles are auriferous ; hence, 
the opinion expressed by distinguished geologists, 
that gold is a recent product, probably of the 
Tertiary period, is erroneous. It must have ex- 
isted at the time of the laying down of the bot- 
tom rocks of this coalfield ; indeed, long before. 
So that instead of its being a recent metal, it is 
one of the oldest, being certainly coeval with 
copper and iron pyrites. 

Grindstone Grits. — In the midst of the gray 
stone beds, more particularly those which occupy 
a place between the two red. sandstones, I have 
frequently observed valuable grits, which are 
suitable both for coarse and fine grindstones. 
Grrindstones have, however, been frequently made 
from the reddish bed as well as the drab and gray 
grits. These stones have been made to supply 
the wants of the citizens in a neighborhood far re- 
moved from the means of transporting heavy 
materials. Wo systematic efforts have been di- 
rected steadily towards the business of preparing 



42 COAL AND IROiS^ OF ?.'OKTH CAROLINA. 

these stones for market. It is only when manu- 
factures are established, that a demand will arise 
out of the interests and wants of the commun- 
ity, that these lesser products of industry 
will take their place in the regular trade of the 
country. 

Bituminous Slate. — The slates of the coal se- 
ries, especially where they are very near the coal 
seams, are highly bituminous. They are known 
to contain 28.6 per cent, of volatile matter, and 
19.55 per cent, of fixed carbon. Slates are em- 
ployed for illumination in Europe, when they are 
near a large population. It would seem, there- 
fore, that the slates of Deep River may, under 
favorable circumstances, be employed for this 
purpose. It is evident that they cannot be trans- 
ported far for any purpose. They ignite readily 
in the fire and in a candle, blaze and burn with a 
good flame, emitting a white light. The question 
may be entertained, whether it is not possible to 
obtain the bitumen or volatile matter in a portable 
slate. The importance of light and fuel certainly 
warrants trials for this purpose. Even the slate 
far removed from the coal seams is combustible, 
and highly so. It is doubtful whether such a 
mass of bituminous slates exists even in the car- 
boniferous series. It is impossible to estimate 
the amount of combustible matter locked up in 
them, and which it is possible may be turned to 
some account. 

ADVANTAGES OP DEEP RIVEE FOE MANUFACTURE 
OP lEON. 

It is the centralization of materials which cre- 
ates an important manufacturing locality when 



COAL AND IKON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 43 

combined especially with a power to move ma- 
chinery, and an agricultural capacity to sustain 
a large population. These give importance to 
any location for establishing a manufacturing in- 
terest upon a large scale. 

Assuming the doctrine as true, we may proceed 
to ascertain whether there is such a centralization 
of means upon Deep River, sufficient to build up 
the interests alluded to. First, it has already 
been proved that the products of the coalfield 
make good the assumption. The hydrous perox- 
ide of iron, the black band and coal, need not be 
spoken of again. The fuel and the material pro- 
ductions are abundant for any projects in this 
line of operations. 

But the additional means in other ores in strik- 
ing distance, add to and greatly increase the 
means for the purposes in view. Thus, the inex- 
haustible specular ore, four miles from the Gulf, 
the magnetic ore a few miles further, the hematite 
ore, will make an addition of three kinds of ore 
to those already known in so much abundance in 
the coalfield. There is, then, the water-power, if 
it is wished to employ it for moving machinery ; 
or what is better, the employment of steam may 
be substituted for it ; and still this power should 
not be lost. 

The next important material is timber. The 
timber of Deep River and vicinity furnishes a va- 
riety not excelled in the State, or any State. First 
and foremost is the long leaf pine, of which for- 
ests line its banks. The growth is large, the 
wood mature, and is unimpaired by age or by 
the woodman's ax. The next most important 
timbers are the oaks and hickories. The manu- 
facturing interests have been scarcely encouraged 



44 COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA, 

hitherto' ; all the materials in the line of Avood- 
work remain as in a new country. 

The next article of importance is stone for con- 
struction. These have been spoken of already. 
The free stone is not only well adapted to the 
construction of durable or imperishable buildings, 
but it is adapted to the construction of elegant 
ones. Whether strength, durability or beauty, 
or all of these characteristics are combined, there 
is ample room for obtaining all that can be 
wished. 

The last essential qualification for manufactures, 
is an agricultural country; one whose soil is 
adapted to the production of the cereals ; for if 
these can be grown, every other necessary is pro- 
vided for. The adaptation of Chatham County 
to the growth of the cereals cannot be doubted ; 
past experience may be cited in proof, or rather 
the testimony of the whole community confirms 
the position. 

But climate should not be overlooked. There 
is a temperature suited to the constitution, which, 
while it favors longevity, favors also the suste- 
nance of life at the lowest expense ; while it pre- 
serves the strength, and does not weaken the 
body by a high summer range. Such, I believe, 
is the favorable climate of North Carolina. The 
moderate range of the thermometer, the freedom 
from long and excessive heats, or long continued 
cold, favors the cheap sustenance of laborers, 
both as to food and clothing, and adds several 
numbers to the percentage of advantages over a 
climate which is subjected to either extreme of 
temperature. But an accessible market is indis- 
pensable to prosperity. We do not, and cannot 
rely upon what has hitherto been done, it is what 



COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 45 

may be, or what improvements the country ad- 
mits of. The outlet for trade is not restricted to 
one direction. It is not Raleigh, nor Norfolk, 
Fayetteville or Wilmington, but it is in all these 
directions ; and so also a route may be opened to 
Charleston and the West. The position of Deep 
River is central. If the manufacturing interest is 
fostered, intercommunication with distant towns 
follows of necessity. A town will grow up with 
greater rapidity on Deep River than at Beaufort. 
Here are the elements which always draw to- 
gether an active and intelligent community. 
These elements have ever created wealthy and 
flourishing towns. If, then, we require a concen- 
tration of means and interests to build up large 
towns, I do not know where a greater number of 
the requisite elements can be found in the inte- 
rior of any State. 



The Dan River Coalfield. 



[Emmons's Report, 1856.] 

The counties of Rockingham and Stokes con- 
tain within their respective areas a series of de- 
posits, which do not differ materially from those 
of Deep River. They contain coal, but the seams 
are less known ; and, judging from the depths of 
the works which have exposed them, they seem 
to be less promising than those of Deep River. 
While all the beds which are connected in this 
formation, or which stand together, are much the 
same as those of Chatham and Moore, the coal 



46 COAL AND lEON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

seam is mostly semi-bituminous, or similar to the 
George Wilcox seam which has been described- 
There are certain peculiarities, however, worthy 
of notice, which do not exist in the Deep River 
formation. Those peculiarities will be recognized 
in the following division of th^ Dan River series : 

1. And at the bottom, conglomerates and breccias. 

2. Lower sandstones, including the soft and hard. 

3. Gray sandstones, with bituminous shales, fire-clays, etc. 

4. Upper sandstones and marls. 

5. Brecciated conglomerates. 

These parts are all distinct and separate at 
Leaksville, where the system is probably more 
perfect than elsewhere. They lie in a trough in 
the prima-ry series, or in the laminated pyrocrys- 
talline rocks, whose direction is about north-east 
and south-west. The axis of the trough runs 
parallel with a line which connects Leaksville 
with Germanton. The system dips to the north- 
west ; the angle of dip is variable, and ranges be- 
tween 15° and 40°, it is usually greater than 20^. 

The whole extent or range of the Dan River 
series is about forty miles, thirty of which is 
comprised within the bounds of North Carolina. 
The north-east extremity extends into Virginia 
about ten miles. The breadth of the series is not 
less than four, and not greater than seven miles. 

It has no connection with the Richmond coal- 
field, though it is prolonged in that direction ; 
neither is it connected or continuous with another 
small coalfield in Halifax County, in Virginia. 
These several troughs are, all of them, isolated 
depressions in the primary series. 

The lowest mass of the Dan River series is con- 
glomerate ; but it is badly developed. It is not 



COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 47 

exposed at Leaksville, the north-east extremity ; 
but at Germanton these beds consist of angular 
fragments of granite and gneiss, intermixed with 
a few imperfectly formed pebbles. This mass 
might be mistaken for granite, were it not that it 
contains here and there the pebbles referred to ; 
or it may be fragments of silicified wood. In 
this mass I have also found the roots of the silici- 
fied trunks penetrating and branching into it, 
showing that the trees grew upon the spot Avhere 
they are now found. Above the conglomerate, 
or brecciated conglomerate, the silicified trunks 
of coniferous trees are sufficiently numerous to 
be regarded as an ancient forest. The roots are 
sometimes changed into lignite. What appear 
to be trunks are always silicified. These, some- 
times, exceed two feet in diameter ; segments of 
which stand out from the sandstones at an angle 
of 45^^ ; but they are usually prostrate. It is re- 
markable that at this locality the trunks and 
roots only remain. All the tender and leafy 
parts are destroyed. The beds containing the 
silicified trunks extend half a mile. In immedi- 
ate connection with the soft sandstones which 
contain the vegetable products already referred 
to, I found a concretionary clay. Large concen- 
tric circles mark the boundaries of the concre- 
tions, some of which are four feet in diameter. 
Above the argillaceous concretionary mass, we 
find the regular bedded red sandstones, consisting 
of variegated strata in part — but mostly red sand- 
stones, of various degrees of coarseness. These 
terminate in the black and green shales and 
slates, which contain the seams of coal. 

At Leaksville, where the series is best exposed, 
they consist of the following strata : — 



48 COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

1. Shale or black bituminous slate below the coal ; thickness 
undetermined . 

2. Slaty micaceous sandstones two feet. 

3. Shaly coal at the outcrop eighteen inches. 

4. Micaceous shale two feet, 

5. Semi-bituminous coal from two to three feet at the outcrop. 

6. Shale one hundred feet . 

7. Strata of a semi-concretionary limestone more or less sili- 
cious, from four to six feet. This is probably an equivalent 
of the argillaceous iron ore. 

8. Soft green, bluish and black shales with posidonias, sixty 
feet. 

The shales, however, still continue ; but being 
covered with soil their thickness remains to be de- 
termined. The calcareous strata are above the 
coal seams ; as no others are known, and as they 
extend through the coalfield, they become way 
boards for the discovery of the seams of coal be- 
neath them. These layers are well preserved at 
Madison, and contain septaria. 

The dip of the slates at Leaksville is N. 35° W. ; 
angle of dip 25°. 

A section of rocks between Eagle bridge and 
Governor Morehead's factory, consists of the 
following strata : 

1. Sandstones and conglomerate, mostly concealed, at the 
bridge. 

2. Flinty black slates, two hundred feet thick. 

3. Coal slates, consisting of green and black slates, with posido- 
niaand cypris in great abundance. 

4. Red and gray sandstones. 

5. Conglomerates. 

6. Shaly and green variegated sandstones . 

7. Conglomerates and brecciated conglomerates at least three 
hundred feet thick. 

They contain many angular fragments, some of 
which are very large. 

The upper part, which may be observed at 
Morehead's factory, presents the following strata. 



COAL AND IRON OF NOETH CAEOLINA. 49 

which I state more in detail, and in the ascending 
order : 

1. Greenish brecciated trappean mass. 

2. Coarse, brecciated mass, intermixed with pebbles only par- 
tially rouuded, eighty to one hundred feet thick. 

3. Greenish slate and shale. 

4. Greenish slaty sandstone. 

5. Coarse decomposing sandstone, one hundred feet thick. 

The first, or No. 1. of this upper part of the se- 
ries is made up of various rocks, as talcose slates, 
granite, and masses of feldspar and trap. The 
size of these angular fragments is from seven to 
eight inches long, and four to five thick. It is a 
decomposing mass. 

The coarse brecciated mass immediately above 
this, is a tough, durable building stone of a gray- 
color, and looks like granite at a distance, Ifc 
contains a large amount of quartz, and the 
ground or paste in which it is imbedded is less 
disposed to disintegrate. The dip of this series is 

isr. 30° w. 

The upper part of the Dan River sandstone is 
unlike that of Deep River, unless it is parallel 
with the rocks at Jones' Falls, which I am dis- 
posed to regard as probable, and as the inferior 
beds of the New Red sandstone There is evi- 
dently a change in the deposits indicative of a 
more important one^ connected with a change of 
the organic remains. This remains to be de- 
termined. 

The series of sandstones again, which are ex- 
posed on Factory Creek, four miles from Madison, 
on the road to Martin's lime kilns, are interesting, 
as they are exposed by the denudation of the 
stream. They are enumerated in the ascending 
order, and probably begin near the coal shales : 
4 



50 COAL AND IKOX OF NOETH CAROLINA. 

1. Soft greenish slates. 

2. Coarse sandstone with pebbles. 

3. Red and brown sandstones . 

4. Porous red sandstones, or sandstone with angular cavities, 
similar to those of Deep River, which may have contained a 
soluble salt. 

5. Green and gray hard sandstones. 

6. Coarse sandstones, with pebbles. 

7. Conglomerates resembling those at Morehead's factory. 

8. Marls, reddish and mottled, beneath which are the primary 
slates in an unconformable position. 

The dip in this series is very regular ; the angle 
of dip is twenty degrees, and the distance across 
them is about half a mile, and every stratum be- 
ing exposed, there is no danger of committing an 
error in the succession, or being misled by repeti- 
tions. This series is probably equivalent to that 
which begins at Jones' Falls, upon Deep River ; 
or, in other words, is the upper part of the Trias- 
sic system. At the time the examination was 
made, I noted the succession only, omitting even 
the approximate thickness of the strata compos- 
ing the series. Obscure fucoids were observed, 
but not obtained. 

The Thecodont saurian remains were obtained 
far below this series ; and hence, though we find 
apparent differences in the groups, we may be 
confident, I think, that the upper and lower parts 
of the formations upon Deep and Dan Rivers, are 
the equivalents of each other. 

At Madison, the series below the coal slates, as 
exposed on the east side of Dan River, is made up 
of the following strata. They rest upon gneiss : 

1. Soft variegated micaceous sandstones, two hundred feet 

thick. 
2o Green, shaly and drab colored sandstones, about five hundred 

feet thick. 

3. Red sandstones, with small angular cavities. 

4. Green and dark colored coal shales, the latter bituminous. 



COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 51 

At Madison, the fossils of the slate are the same 
as those at Evans' Mills, on Deep River. The con- 
glomerate, which is so conspicnons a member of 
this formation on Deep River, is very imperfectly 
developed upon the Dan. 

At Germanton, at the extreme south-western 
extremity of the formation, coal has been ob- 
tained. The series is not well exposed, but the 
relations of the beds are as follows : 

1. Slate below. 

2. Fire-clay. 

3. Coal eighteen inches. 

4. Slate, one foot . 

5. Coal, eighteen inches. 

6. Black bituminous slate, five feet. 

7. Sandstone and slate. 

Semi-bituminous coal was first obtained about 
four miles from Germanton. Subsequently only 
two miles. This coal is not pure at the outcrop. 
Coal is known at several places between Leaks- 
ville and Germanton ; but no new discoveries 
have been made since my report was published. 
The Leaksville seam has been explored deeper ; 
the slope has been sunk about one hundred feet. 
The seam had increased ; the thickness now being 
from three-and-a-half to four feet. But, as yet, 
the investigations of these coal seams have not 
been sufficiently extended to allow us to express 
a positive opinion of their value. The coal itself 
is less valuable than upon the Deep River, inas- 
much as it ranks only with the anthracite coals. 
But the exploration on the plantation of Mr. 
Wade, at or near Leaksville, becomes more favor- 
able ; the coal seam having increased in thickness 
and improved in quality. 

When the lower sandstones and conglomerates 



52 COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

o± the two rivers are compared, it is evident that 
the beds below the coal series are less important 
upon Pan than upon Deep River. In the latter, 
the lower sandstones, with their conglomerates, 
are remarkably thick ; and we have seen that the 
conglomerate is very feebly developed upon the 
Dan at Germanton, and wanting at Madison ; and 
it appears that in Virginia, the lower sandstones, 
with their conglomerates, are entirely wanting. 

The slates of the coal measures of the two dis- 
tricts are probably equal in thickness ; but it 
appears from facts thus far developed, that the 
coal and the argillaceous iron ores are less in 
quantity in the Dan River district. 

The series above the coal slates, however, are 
either better exposed, or else are actually thicker. 
There is no locality where the upper rocks are so 
well exposed as upon Factory Creek. Of the iden- 
tity of the two series there can be no doubt. The 
fossils of the Dan differ in no respect from those 
of Deep River. 



The Coal Deposits. 



[Kerr's Report, 1875.J 

The principal coal beds are found on Deep 
River, in Chatham and Moore Counties. The 
area of this coal field is given by Emmons as 
about 300 square miles. The quality of the coal 
is also discussed by him and by Admiral Wilkes. 

The following analyses by Dr. Genth were 



COAL AND lEON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 53 

made for the Survey, of specimens selected by 
myself three or four years ago from large heaps 
newly mined. 

Fixed Carbon 63.28 70.48 

Volatile Matter 25.74 21.90 

Ash 10.14 6.43 

Moisture 0.84 1.16 

100.00 100.00 
Sulphur 1.35 1.02 

It will be seen that these are good coals ; they 
contain a very small percentage of sulphur, much 
less than many of the coals of Ohio and the West, 
which are largely used in the reduction of iron 
ores. The former analysis represents the Egypt 
coal and the latter that at the Gulf, the Gulf spec- 
imens being obtained within fifteen feet of the 
surface. 

In regard to the value of the Chatham coal for 
gas-making, I have received the following testi- 
mony from the Messrs. Peters, of Portsmouth, as 
to the result of a trial in the gas works of Nor- 
folk and Portsmouth, of a lot mined some three 
years ago : ^' Their (the Superintendents') reports 
are highly favorable to the Chatham coal, both as 
to the quality of the gas produced and the quan- 
tity which a given amount of the coal yielded." 
And Mr. C. S. Allman, President of the Norfolk 
Gas Works, says : ' ' Our Superintendent thinks 
it about equal to the best Clover Hill coal, giving 
off 14 candle gas, 3f cubic feet per pound. I have 
no doubt that fresh mined lump would give much 
better results." 

A sample of a thin seam of coal, which was 
struck last year in Anson county, in Boggans 
Cut, gave, on analysis, (by Hanna), 



54 COAL AND lEON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Fixed Carbon 63.76 

Volatile 23.13 

Ash 3.47 

Moisture 9.95 

99.31 
Sulphur 0.75 

The seam exposed in the cut was only two or 
three inches thick ; but it represents the Chatham 
coal in its continuation southwestward. There 
have been no explorations here to determine 
whether larger seams exist. 

The lignite bed on Tar River, near Oxford, in 
Granville County, is the continuation of the 
Chatham coal formation in the opposite direction. 
The thickness of the seam is reported about live 
or six inches; but no explorations have been 
made to ascertain either its horizontal or vertical 
extent. 

It is worth while to mention here also the Mtu- 
mmous sliales^ which show themselves in so 
strong force above the coal in the Egypt section. 
Dr. Emmons estimates the thickness of the oil- 
bearing strata at seventy feet, and pronounced 
them capable of yielding thirty per cent, of their 
weight in kerosene oil. So that here is an inex- 
haustible resource for fuel, over and above that 
furnished by the coal seams. 

The other coal in the valley of Dan River, is 
much less known ; but it was mined at Leaksville 
during the late war, and the coal acquired a very 
high reputation as a fuel. It is semi-bituminous. 
The thickness of the only seam explored at this 
point is about three feet. The longitudinal ex- 
tent of this dejDosit is as great as that of the 
Chatham beds, but it is probably narrower. As 
stated elsewhere, some recent openings by the 



COAL AND IKON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 55 

iron company operating in Guilford, seems to 
show a succession of parallel beds more numerous 
and of greater thickness in places than those on 
Deep River. These explorations were made four 
years ago, near Stokesburg. Two analyses by 
Dr. Genth, of samples of different seams opened 
here gave, respectively, 75.96 and 76.56 per cent, 
of fixed carbon, 11.44 and 13.56 per cent of ash, 
the volatile matter being about 12 per cent, in each. 
The development of these deposits is a matter of 
sufficient interest to the State to justify an ex- 
ploration of the whole length of both these coal 
areas, and the diamond drill offers a ready and 
cheap means of tracing out the boundaries and 
ascertaining accurately the depth, thickness, and 
all the conditions which will determine their 
value. And I do not think a few thousand 
dollars could be more profitably expended. 



Of the Ores of Iron. 



[Emmons's Report, 1856.] 

The midland counties are traversed by three 
parallel belts of magnetic ore, or, in some places, 
the ore is changed to a variety called specular 
ore. 

Beginning at the western part of the midland 
counties, the first belt to be described, passes 
from six to seven miles east of Lincolnton. It is the 
prolongation of the King's Mountain ore, in Gas- 
ton county. It immediately adjoins or belongs to 
the belt of sediments which has been described as 



56 COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

passing near Lincolnton. At Lincolnton, the 
rock is mostly a coarse light gray micaceous 
granite. Beds of slate, limestone and quartzite, 
succeed it on the east ; but between this and the 
gneiss, a little further east, are the veins of mag- 
netic ore. The position of the narrow belt of tal- 
cose slate in which the ore occurs, is below or 
behind the heavy masses of granular quartz. 
These masses of quartz, as they are continuous 
from the South Carolina line to the Catawba, are 
landmarks for the position of the ore. There is 
no ore above the quartz, and I do not know that 
there is any in the gneiss represented as below 
the veins of iron in the section referred to. The 
careful consideration, therefore, of such relations, 
is of great importance ; they furnish the clue to 
the actual position of the veins. 

The rocks and ore taken in masses stand in this 
order, beginning our reckoning on the west : 







<6 


-2 




O 


B 
o 






1 


^ 
2 
S 




1 


1 

1 


t 


i 

1 


5 


T^ 


oi 


CO 


Tji 


iO 


<» 


i> 


00 


OS 



The quartz being a rock easily distinguished, 
becomes a guide to the position of the ore. 

These ore beds or veins of which I am speaking, 
are situated six or seven miles eastward of Lin- 
colnton, and upon the north side of the plank 
road. The limestone is a mile west of the belt of 
ore. 

The ore is usually near the crest of a ridge, and 



COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 57 

here it traverses tlie parallel ridges, which, how- 
ever, it crosses very obliquely. There is no in- 
stance in which the vein runs precisely parallel 
with a ridge, or follows it ; it makes, in this in- 
stance, to the east. This fact should not be lost 
sight of in tracing the veins ; they may be exact- 
ly upon the crest in one instance, but in the pro- 
longation northward they will be found to have 
made to the eastward of the same prolonged 
ridge. 

The direction of bearing, as determined by the 
harder masses of rock, is N. 20° E. — and what is 
said respecting the bearing of the ore beds to the 
east, is true also of the rock and strata in which 
they occur. 

Certain peculiarities respecting the veins of 
magnetic ore of Lincoln County require a notice 
in this place. 

They are of a flattened oval form, that is, a 
vein is divided into sections, each of which par- 
takes of this form ; the thin edge, perhaps, not 
making an outcrop at all, but is inclosed between 
strata and slate, which come together at the sur- 
face. This thin edge of ore, with its oval mass, 
lies obliquely in the slate, widening as it descends, 
until it reaches its maximum width, where it nar- 
rows below to its inferior edge. The thickness of 
the upper mass may be less than twelve inches. 
This laps on to the west side of another flattened 
oval mass, which lies behind the first ; but in its 
descent widens to a greater width than the first. 

Some of the veins increase in width in this way, 
where, at the depth of sixty feet, they are six to 
eight feet wide. In working these veins, it is im- 
portant to notice this arrangement, and especial- 
ly the setting back of each oval mass ; it invari- 



58 COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

ably begins behind the upper, and against the 
foot wall. 

The ore of the veins under consideration is usu- 
ally fine grained, or very rarely coarse ; it belongs 
to the variety which is termed soft ; that is, it 
breaks readily, and may be crushed in the hand. 
This softness arises partly from the mixture of 
talcose slate, by which the grains are separated 
from each other, and their coherence diminished. 
This fact exerts a favorable influence in smelting, 
as by it the ore is readily reduced to a size for 
the fire and the fluxes to act readily upon it. It 
is also very strongly magnetic. The upper part 
of the veins have generally undergone disintegra- 
tion, and the mass of ore is frequently in the con- 
dition of a slightly coherent red mass, which 
readily passes into the condition of a powder. 
On the outside especially this change has taken 
place, while the interior of a mass may be still 
occupied by a black unchanged ore, in the con- 
dition of grains. These changes are confined to 
the upper part of the vein, and only extend to 
that point where it is constantly wet. 

These veins of ore in Lincoln County have been 
worked for a long period, and they have been and 
still are celebrated for the good quality of the 
iron which they furnish, especially when reduced 
with proper care. The iron has been famous for 
its toughness and great strength, and the facility 
with which it is made into blooms. 

Messrs. Brevard and Johnston are the principle 
owners of the depositories of ore in this belt. Being 
in the interior of the State, the only market which 
this iron finds is a home market ; smiths general- 
ly obtaining the necessary supply from them. 
A much wider range of sale may be anticipated, 



COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 59 

provided Lincoln County becomes connected witli 
Wilmington and the Seaboard, by means of a 
railway. The ore being inexhaustible, water 
power to move machinery being abundant, and 
more than all, a sufficiency of fuel for charcoal, 
mades the production of iron cheap. By aid of 
railways to take it to market, there is no question 
the iron may compete successfully with northern 
iron in a northern market. Charcoal iron must 
always have a preference over all others ; and, 
for special purposes, no other can be used. For 
all uses where machinery is exposed to great 
strains, no other will do ; especially, in those 
parts of a vehicle which are liable to break, as 
the axles of locomotives, etc. 

The prolongation of the Lincoln County ore ap- 
pears in the next place not far from the High 
Shoals of the Little Catawba. 

It preserves the same relations to the slate, 
quartz and limestone, as those veins which have 
been already described. The character of the ore, 
however, in certain places, has changed. ISTear 
the High Shoals, or upon the property known by 
this name, there are three locations called banks, 
from which the ore has been obtained. The first 
is known as the Ferguson bank. At this place 
the ore is brown ; it has become per oxidated, and 
has the color of snuff. The unchanged ore is 
largely intermixed with sulphuret of iron. It is 
unfit for bar iron, but may be emj)loyed for cast- 
ing along with better ores ; in small quantities it 
makes a smoother casting than the purer ores. 
When the Ferguson ore is entirely decomposed, 
it makes a very good iron in the forge. 

The Ellis ore bank, is about three miles from 
the site of Fullen wider' s old furnace. It lies in 



60 COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

the direcfcion of King's Mountain. It is a black 
ore, and the vein is eighteen feet wide. Its direc- 
tion is N". 20^ E. It makes good iron and is inex- 
haustible. 

The Carson ore bank is the most easterly of the 
three. It is the common black magnetic ore, but 
is remarkably jointed, and hence breaks into dis- 
tinct angular pieces. This property, or the High 
Shoal property, is well jDrovided with the means 
for manufacturing iron ; the water power, the 
ore and fuel for coal is abundant on the premises. 
It contains 14,000 acres of land, and the south- 
east part of which is valuable for tillage. 

The belt of ore with the same series of rocks 
continues to King' s Mountain, in the vicinity of 
which iron has been made for more than half a 
century. One of the principal veins is forty feet 
thick. The business is carried on by Mr. Briggs, 
who supplies the country with iron of an excel- 
lent quality. The general character of the belt 
is preserved still further south. It passes into 
South Carolina, extending to the Limestone 
Springs, in the Spartanburg district; or to the 
Broad River, where iron works have been erected. 

In addition to the seams of magnetic ore which 
belong to this very extensive belt, there are beds 
of hematite near the top of King' s Mountain. 

Crowder's Mountain also furnishes the perox- 
ide or specular ore near the top, and is said to 
constitute a vein six or seven feet w^ide. This I 
have not visited. It is evident, from the forego- 
ing statements, that this important ore is widely 
distributed in Catawba, Lincoln and Gaston Coun- 
ties. There is no probability, however, that the 
ore has been discovered at all the accessible 
points. There is but little doubt, that upon this 



COAL AND lEON OF ISTORTH CAROLINA. 61 

long belt, extending from tlie Catawba at Sher- 
rill's ford to the Broad River in South Carolina, at 
the Limestone Springs, other points not yet found 
will come to light, which will greatly add to the 
amount already known to exist. There seems, 
however, to be so much which is now accessible, 
that the inducements for finding more are not 
very imperative, even with those who are engaged 
in its manufacture. 

THE SECOND BELT OF IRON ORE IN THE MIDLAND 
COUNTIES 

may be regarded as beginning in Montgomery 
County. It passes through Randolph County near 
Franklinsville, thence into Guilford County, and 
appears again ten miles west of Greensborough, 
beyond which I have not traced it ; and indeed 
do not know that on this immediate line of direc- 
tion iron ore veins are known. 

The ore is upon the land of Mr. Deberry, and I 
believe is six or seven miles in a south-west direc- 
tion from Troy. The country about it is unculti- 
vated, and covered in the immediate vicinity with 
the long leafed pine. 

The relations of the ore to the surrounding 
rocks, is as follows : 



1 






S 1 


s| 


i 


i 


2 55 


s"" 


*SJ 


o 

a 


"* 3 


"o 


Jj 


P 


■oD ^ 


O 


<y 


1— 1 


< H 


tH 


ci 


JO 


Ti^ la 


beds are traversed by 


a narrow bed of horn- 



62 COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

blende, wMch, however, is not in a parallel posi- 
tion. 

The mass of ore is about fifty feet wide. It oc- 
cupies a heavy knoll or hill of moderate height. 
How far the ore extends in the direction of its 
strike, I did not determine. It may be traced a 
quarter-of-a-mile, but being concealed by the 
debris^ its extent could not be determined without 
excavations. 

At the surface it is silicious ; but subordinate 
seams of pure heavy ore attest to the j)urity of 
the mass, as it will be found below. 

This ore is a peroxide at the surface. Its strike 
is N. 3(1° E., and dip JST. W. at a steep angle. It 
is jointed and breaks into angular pieces. The 
ore has never been noticed, and of course no trials 
have been made respecting the mode in which it 
will work, or the kind of iron it will make ; but 
being free from sulphuret of iron, it is probable 
that the quality of iron will be such as to recom- 
mend it to the favor of iron masters. 

About four miles in a northerly direction from 
Troy, and in a range with the ore just described, 
another series of veins are known, and which lie 
in the neighborhood of the Carter gold mine. 

This ore is the magnetic variety, and much of it 
is in minute octahedral crystals. It is very fri- 
able, but is intermixed with talcose slate and 
grains of quartz, which contributes very much to 
its softness. The beds of ore differ in composi- 
tion, but still it is no objection to the view which 
I have taken of them, viz., that they belong to 
the same epoch. It sometimes happens that a 
vein of siDecular ore lies by the side of a magnetic 
vein, being separated only a few feet. 

In this belt or range the iron ore of Davie and 



COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 63 

Stokes Counties should probably be placed. At 
rather distant points the ore of this belt ax)pears 
in a range so direct, that there is no doubt of its 
passing entirely across the State. It lies parallel 
with the limestones and slates ; but I am unable 
to trace these rocks across Catawba and Davie 
Counties. We lose, after crossing the Catawba, 
the guides which I have spoken of. There is 
some doubt too, respecting the age of the lime- 
stone at Germanton ; that is, it seems to be dif- 
ferent from the King's Mountain limestone, and 
still, if the iron ore is regarded as an eruptive 
rock, there will be no objection to combining the 
Davie and Stokes belts with the King's Mountain 
belt, which passes through Lincoln County. The 
continuity of the belt is preserved better in the 
south than in Davie and Stokes. The ore of 
Davie presents great advantages for working, in 
consequence of the water power of the South 
Yadkin ; and as most of the iron used in this and 
the neighboring Counties is brought from Tennes- 
see, it seems that even a home market is an in- 
ducement sufficiently great for the establishment 
of iron works upon the South Yadkin. 

About three or four, miles south west from 
Franklins ville, in an uncultivated part of the 
country, I found heavy black massive magnetic 
ore in abundance, lying in loose blocks upon the 
surface. These masses I found in immediate 
proximity to a vein of magnetic iron, which ap- 
pears to be of a superior quality. This vein, 
though not in an exact geological relation with 
those of Montgomery County, is still removed only 
a short distance from the quartzite. Its extent has 
not been determined, and cannot be, without the 
sinking of pits or uncovering the ore. I feel 



64 COAL AND IRON OF NOETH CAROLINA. 

satisfied that it is extensive ; and as it is near 
Deep River, its importance is enhanced by this 
circumstance. 

Specular ore was discovered near Trogden 
mountain many years ago. The seam, however, 
is too inconsiderable to command attention. A 
shaft was sunk upon it before the present inhabi- 
tants settled this part of the country. The 
brightness of the ore probably deceived some dis- 
coverer, who mistook the ore for silver. Old cru- 
cibles and furnaces still attest to the unprofitable 
industry of some expectant of a fortune in the 
splendid luster of this specular oxide of iron. 

Ten miles west of Greensborough, in Guilford 
County, on a tract of land formerly owned by Mr. 
Cofiin, two or more veins of magnetic iron of 
great purity were discovered several years ago. 
It is black and middling coarse, and has all the 
external characteristics of a most valuable ore. 
It is unmixed with any substance which injures 
the quality of iron, and at the same time suf- 
ficiently soft to work easily, and make a tough 
iron. In New York, in the mineral districts 
where the magnetic ores prevail, it is regarded as 
an evidence, and in fact a proof, that an ore which 
crumbles in the hand, or is easily broken, will 
make a soft iron; while the hard tough ores, with 
a bright and shining luster, will invariably make 
a hard iron with less toughness or tenacity ; be- 
sides it is not reduced so kindly. The dull look- 
ing ores are always regarded as the best ; those 
especially which become red upon the surface. 
The ore which I am describing is a dull looking 
ore, but very heavy and free from rock. 

The veins to which the surface ore belongs have 
never been uncovered or exposed. The distribu- 



GOAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 65 

tion upon the surface indicates at least two dis- 
tinct parallel veins. The surface masses become 
what is known as loadstone. They are not only 
thoroughly magnetic, but have two or more poles, 
and of course repel or attract the poles of a com- 
mon surveyor' s needle, according as the poles are 
north or south ; north and south poles attracting, 
and north poles repelling. I may state in this 
connection, that a successful method of discov- 
ering veins of magnetic iron, is by means of a 
needle mounted like a dipping needle, but with 
one pole only. It is therefore made one-half of a 
thin bar of steel, and the other half of brass. On 
passing over a concealed vein of ore the needle is 
attracted ; and when immediately over the ore, 
it points downwards. Its course of direction may 
be traced by the same instrument. 

The ore upon the plantation of Mr. Coffin is be- 
tween Brush Creek and Reedy Fork. It extends 
north, and appears on the plantation of Mr. 
Jos. Harris, and onward to Rockingham County 
to the Troublesome, upon the plantations of John 
L. Morehead, Esq., where it is in great force ; and 
south, it crops out on the plantations of Mr. Joel 
Chipman and John Unthank. Thus it appears to 
form either another belt distinct from those I have 
mentioned, or a subordinate one. I mention it 
here as a subordinate one. The ore of Mr. Coffin's 
mine, even taken from the surface, worked easily, 
and made an excellent iron, which is remarkable, 
for surface ore. 

THE EASTERN OR CHATHAM BELT 

of iron ore is the least regular, as it now ap- 
pears from my present information. Four or five 
miles from the Gulf, on the plankroad leading 
5 



6Q COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

north, or towards Graham, the specuhir iron ore 
crops out on a ridge, on land owned in part by 
Mr. Evans. It is widely and profusely scattered 
over the surface, but it also appears in a heavy 
vein of rich ore some six or eight feet wide. This 
vein is in a talcose slate, and in connection also 
with a rock which is regarded as soapstone, but 
which is by no means magnesian ; it is properly 
the figure stone or agalmatolite, and is known at 
many other places, in connection with the iron 
ores. This vein I have traced three-quarters of a 
mile. It has a compact structure and a tine lively 
grain when freshly broken, and is entirely free 
from sulj^huret of iron. 

It will be seen from the foregoing brief state- 
ment, that this vein is an important and valuable 
one, being within a short distance of the Gulf, 
upon Deep River. The ground is descending to 
the river, a short distance only over the sandstone 
can be regarded as hilly. The raising of the ore 
too, will be attended with less cost than usual, 
inasmuch as the excavations may be drained for 
a long time, and will therefore save the expense 
of pumping by steam power. 

Another seam or vein exists in this vicinity on 
lands owned by Mr. Glass. It is the crystallized 
specular ore, but I have seen it only upon the 
surface. Not far distant is the famous locality 
of hematite, usually known as Ore Hill. It occu- 
pies a knob some two or three hundred feet above 
the surrounding country. The ore lies in belts. 
which traverse the hill in an easterly and westerly 
direction. Quartzite forms the pinnacle of the 
hill, and as usual, is associated with talcose slate. 
The ore is more immediately associated with the 
latter rock. 



COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 67 

It is from this place that the ore was procured 
mainly in the time of the revolution. The old 
excavations are partially filled. The ore is in 
large concretions or masses, which, in their gen- 
eral arrangement, lie across the hill. It is not, I 
believe, in one body, as has been supx^osed by 
many. The quantity I am unable to estimate; 
but appearances go to show that it must be large. 

Some of the finest ore of this neighborhood I 
found upon the plantation of Mr. Headen. ^ It is 
magnetic, and resembles very closely the kind I 
have already spoken of in Guilford county, on 
the plantation of the late Mr. Cofiin. I have not, 
however, seen the vein from which the remarka- 
bly fine specimens were derived. 

Magnetic ore of a fine quality exists also on the 
plantation of Mr. Temple Unthank. It is two or 
three miles beyond Mr. Evans' vein, and about 
three-fourths of a mile from the plankroad. The 
vein varies in width from one to three feet. From 
the foregoing statement, it will be perceived that 
in this part of Chatham County there is a valu- 
able mineral district ; furnishing three species of 
iron orOj the Jieniatite, magnetic and specular. 
These are the principal ores from which iron is 
obtained. These repositories also contain ore of 
great purity, differing from each other, however, 
in richness and other qualities ; a fact of consid- 
erable importance in the manufacture of iron. ^ It 
is by a combination of different ores, possessing 
different qualities, that the manufacture of this 
metal is facilitated, and by which one possessing 
the most desirable qualities is obtained. I shall 
have occasion, however, further on, to add two 
kinds of ore to the foregoing list ; that of the 
hydrated oxide, mixed with carbonate and the 



68 COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

celebrated ore called tlie black band, which 
belongs to the coal formation of Deep River. It 
is this first from which Pennsylvania manufac- 
tures her iron principally, though not entirely. 
Her iron masters also use the magnetic ores. The 
two kinds are mixed. Experience proves the 
value of the method. But who would sui)pose 
that iron masters, in order to obtain the results 
they seek for, could afford to transport the mag- 
netic ore from Essex County, in northern New 
York, to Pittsburg ? And yet thousands of tons 
are annually sent there for this purpose. 

Chatham County, however, can furnish within 
the radius of seven or eight miles, five kinds of 
ore in abundance. It appears that the ore of 
this coal field, though less in extent than that of 
the true carboniferous in Pennsylvania ; yet, there 
has been deposited in tins formation, ii'on ores on 
as large a scale as in the true carboniferous. 
Many are slow to believe it, but I do not see any 
way to avoid the conclusion, seeing that an out- 
crop of it may be traced thirty miles. These 
beds, too, have been cut in the great shaft at 
Egypt, a thousand feet or more within the out- 
crop. But this is not the place to enter into a 
statement of details concerning this great deposit 
of iron ore. I shall give all the facts respecting 
it, when this formation comes up in its proper 
place for consideration. 

But, one word more respecting facilities for 

THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON 

upon Deep River. It has been supposed that 
Pennsylvania must enjoy a monopoly in the man- 
ufacture of this indispensable metal, in conse- 



COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 69 

quence of the extent of her possessions, and the 
vast amount of anthracite which she can employ. 
Of the extent of her resources in this respect no 
one can doubt. She can make iron cheaply by 
her anthracite, but no cheaper than it can be made 
on Deep River by bituminous coal or coke ; and 
coke-made iron will be as good as that made by 
charcoal, in consequence of the jjurity of the 
bituminous coal on Deep River. And in the man- 
ufacture of coke, I believe, products of distilla- 
tion may be obtained which will more than pay 
the cost of making the coke. But this is a mat- 
ter to be tried, and does not properly come in for 
consideration now. What I wish to say is, that 
in the coal of Deep River, the manufacturer has 
all tlie material he can want for this purpose ; 
and if a better article of iron can be made from 
coke than by anthracite, then, in a district of 
equal extent, !N^orth Carolina has advantages over 
Pennsylvania, for the manufacture of iron. In 
proof of this, I repeat that she has : 1st. The 
peculiar ore of the coal fields ; 2d. The mag- 
netic, specular and hematitic ores of the primary 
and paleozoic rocks in immediate proximity ; 
3d. The use of coke by which to make the iron ; 
4th. A fine agricultural region for the cereals, 
and 5th. A milder climate and rivers both for 
moving machinery and transportation, which is 
unobstructed in the winter. The cost of living, 
and the means for conducting the business, will 
be much cheaper. These advantages are too ob- 
vious to require comment or further explana- 
tion. 

Iron ore may exist in districts where it can be 
of little value only ; there may be a destitution oi' 
fuel, or a want of water-power, though with re- 



70 (JOAL AND IROJN^ OF NORTH CAKOLINA. 

spect to the latter, it can be dispensed witli when 
there is an abundance of the former. 

In the first belt described, that which belongs to 
the King's Mountain belt, there is yet timber and 
wood for a supply for many years, I know not 
how many. The countr^^ is yet thinly settled, 
although it was cultivated before the day of the 
famous battle of King's Mountain. Oaks, chest- 
nut, pine and hickory yet cover the ridges and 
plane-grounds of the Great and Little Catawbas. 
The water-courses furnish all the power required 
for moving machinery. It is strictly a district 
created for manufacturing purposes, supplying in 
itself all that is wanted to conduct the various 
manipulations required in creating what may be 
termed the raw materials for the arts. 

The second belt, that which begins in Mont- 
gomery County, and passes through Randolph 
and onwards in a north-eastwardly direction, is 
also suj)plied wdth timber and wood, and water- 
power. The forests of the long-leaved pine, still 
untouched by the boxing- ax and scraper of the 
turpentine merchant, are certainly the finest in 
this or any other State. The hills of Randolph 
are still clothed with trees. 

The third belt, that which belongs to Chatham 
County, but which also jjasses into Orange in the 
direction of Red Mountain, to which the belt of 
iron ore is prolonged, has its forests of long-leaved 
pine, as well as its oaks, ash and hickory timbers. 
Rocky River, Deep River, Haw and New Hope, 
furnish all the mechanical power required for 
moving machinery. 

It is evident, therefore, after a careful examina- 
tion of the premises in each belt, or district, that 
there is not lacking any thing which is necessary 



COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 71 

for the successful prosecution of the iron business, 
except capital. The great highways are being 
opened to market, and I see no reason why capi- 
talists may not now^ step in and reap the harvests. 

Carbonate of Iron, or f^tpel Ore. — The localities 
of this mineral are rather numerous in North 
Carolina. It is not yet determined, however, 
whether they possess any value as iron ore, for the 
production of iron. That it is frequently valu- 
able as a flux for smelting copper is conceded, or 
has been proved by trial. The drawback upon 
this species of ore, for the production of iron or 
steel, lies in the presence of copper pyrites. It 
is not in beds, but an associate of other metals or 
ores, and is their vein stone, and hence is more or 
less intermixed with them. B ii t in parts of several 
mines, as the North Carolina copper mine, the 
copper is absent, and it is only intermixed with 
quartz. 

In the vicinity of Gen. Gray' s, upon the head 
waters of the Uwharrie, carbonate of iron is a very 
common substance. Upon the plantation of Mr. 
Johnson, a vein composed mainly of this sub- 
stance has been exposed, by sinking two or three 
shafts, for the purpose of testing it for gold. 
This vein is pure enough for making iron. It 
carries gold in its quartz, but the quantity of the 
sulphurets is inconsiderable. I observed it at 
several places in this district. It is not, however, 
expected that this ore will be used by itself in the 
manufacture of iron. But w^here it exists in the 
vicinity of other ores, it will form an excellent 
addition as a flux, w^hile it will also control the 
quantity of reduced iron, in the ultimate result. 

Recapitulation of the leading facts respecting 
the Ores of Iron. — 1. The ores of iron, although 



72 COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

they do not make an extraordinary show upon 
the surface, yet, it will be seen from the foregoing 
statements, that they constitute an important 
source of wealth. 

2. These ores embrace those which are known 
to be the most important ones for the production 
of iron, and embrace the brown oxides, or hema- 
tites, the specular and magnetic, or black oxide 
of iron. , 

3. They are distributed in the midland counties 
in belts, and though it cannot be shown that they 
form continuous masses or veins, still they lie in 
certain ranges, through which they may be traced, 
and upon which they appear at the surface at in- 
tervals. 

4. They belong to both series of rocks, the 
pyrocrystalline and sedimentary ; in both they 
occur in veins, which, of course, proves that they 
belong to a later period than that to which the 
rock itself belongs. 

5. Those veins which belong to the sediments 
appear to hold a fixed relation to the quartzite or 
sandstone near the base of the Taconic system, 
being, so far as yet known, behind or beneath 
it, in slates which may be termed the bottom 
rocks of the sediments. 

6. The hematites accompany, in several in- 
stances at least, the quartz rock already referred 
to ; and they bear the marks of having been de- 
rived from pre-existing ores. 

7. Experience has proved that the magnetic 
ores make a superior iron. The specular has not 
been tested in the furnace or forge, but their 
purity is a sufficient guarantee of their value. 



COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 73 



The Ores of Iron. 



[Kerr's Report, 1875.] 

The ores of iron are very widely distributed in 
this State, their occurrence being not only co-ex- 
tensive with the area of the Archsean (or Azoic) 
rocks, but extending over a jDart of the Mesozoic, 
and even into the Quaternary. And these occur- 
rences include all the principal kinds of ore, Mag- 
netite, Hematite, Limonite and Siderite, and 
most of their varieties and modifications. But as 
many of these forms occur in association or close 
proximity, it will avoid confusion to consider 
them by districts, — to group them geographically. 
We begin with the most easterly occurrences. 
But for the benefit of those who are not familiar 
with the mineralogy of the subject, and who may 
not have access to authorities, it may be worth 
while to state that Magnetite, {magnetic iron ore, 
gray ore, Mack ore,) a granular, hard, dark to 
black, heavy mineral, contains, when pure, 72.4 
per cent, of iron ; Hematite, {specular irony red 
hematite^ red iron ore,) 70 per cent. ; Limonite, 
{brown liematite, hroion iron ore, brown oclire, bog 
iron ore, etc.,) very nearly 60 per cent.; Siderite, 
{spathic ore, carbonate of iron,) 48.28 per cent. 
These ores are never found in a state of purity in 
workable beds, but contain various impurities, 
earthy or rocky, in different proportions, — alum- 
ina, silica, lime, magnesia, manganese, etc.; so 
that practically that is considered a good ore 



74 COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

which yields 40 to 50 per cent, of iron in the fur- 
nace. 

Limonite Ores of tlie East. — The clayey, sandy 
and earthy accumulations of the eastern section, 
which have been previously described as Qua- 
ternary, contain in many places a rough brown 
ore, more or less earthy, or sandy, either in beds 
2 to 3, or 4 feet in thickness, or more frequently 
in sheets, or layers of irregularly shaped lumps 
or nodules. One of the most considerable of 
these deposits occurs in the southern end of Nash 
County near the Wilson line. It is in the form of 
a horizontal, continuous bed, of a loose, spongy 
texture and rusty brown color, except in a few 
points, where it becomes more compact and of a 
submetallic lustre. It lies on the margin of Tois- 
not Swamp. The thickness is 2 to 8 feet, and its 
extent horizontally about 50 yards by 150. It is 
known as the Blomary Iron Mine, from the fact 
that iron had been made from this ore in a Catalan 
forge, a few miles south, during the war of 1812. 
Iron was also made here during the Confederate 
war in a furnace erected on the spot. Mr. W. H. 
Tappey, one of the proprietors, informed me that 
" the iron made was of excellent quality, soft and 
very strong." And there is a tradition in the 
neighborhood that the forge iron, previously re 
ferred to, was a sort of natural steel. The follow- 
ing is the analysis of what appeared to be a fair 
sample of the bed, selected lately : 

Silica, 15.06 

Alumina, 0.55 

Sesquioxide of Iron, 60. 74 

Protoxide of Iron, .24 

Sulphide of Iron, 0.06 

Oxide of Maueanese, 1.56 

Lime, .^. 11.4S 



COAL AND IROK OF XORTH CAKOLmA. 75 

Maguesia 1.54 

Sulphuric Acid, 0.03 

Phosphoric Acid, 0.11 

Organic Matter and Water, 15.58 

Which gives Iron 42.73 per cent. This analysis 
places the ore among the best of its class. 

A second deposit, reported to be abundant in 
superficial nodules and irregular lumps, is found 
in the southern part of Duplin County near Wal- 
lace, on the farm of D. T. Boney. The follow- 
ing is a partia?l analysis of an average specimen 
from a box of about 50 pounds sent to the Mu- 
seum : 

Silica, 7. 59 

Oxide of Iron, 77.03 

Sulphur, 0.05 

Phosphorus 0.02; giving 

Metallic Iron, 53.93 

The ore is often in quite large and tolerably 
compact lumps, of a reddish-brown color, and 
slightly magnetic. 

Another bed of the same character and appear- 
ance, except in the size of the nodules, which 
are rather small, occurs in a field about 2 miles 
north of E-ocky Point in New Hanover. 

Specimens of the same sort have been fre- 
quently sent to the Museum from other points 
east, — Edgecombe, Pitt, Halifax and Kobeson, 
for example ; showing that this kind of ore is of 
common occurrence in that region. 

Hematites of Halifax and Gi^anmlle. — On the 
hills fronting the Roanoke, less than a mile below 
Gaston, are several outcrops of hematite ore. 
There are two principal beds, of which the lower 
only has been opened. The ore is granular, for 
the most part, and of the variety known as 
specular, but contains a considerable percentage 



76 COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

of magnetic grains disseminated through it. On 
the south side of the river, the bed has been ex- 
posed for several rods on the upper slope of the 
hill, at an elevation of about 100 to 150 feet above 
the surface of the water. The ore is generall}^ 
slaty, impregnating and replacing the argillace- 
ous and quartzitic and chloritic strata which con- 
stitute the Huronian formation at the locality. 
This lower bed is double, another parallel out- 
crop appearing at the distance of about 100 yards. 
The strike is JST. 20° E., and the dip eastward 80°. 
The principal bed is about 20 inches thick at the 
surface. There is a re-appearance of it on the 
other hill front about a mile distant, on the north 
side of the river, the ore being of the same char- 
acter, but a little less slaty. It gave on analysis 
63.76 per cent, of Iron, and 0.09 of phosphorus. 
The analyses of both these beds are added below : 

3 4 

Silica, 9.10 10.12 

Alumina, 6. 18 

Oxide of Iron, 83.96 

Lime, 0-23 

Phosphorus, 0.00 0.05 

Sulphur, 0.03 0.08 

Metallic Iron 58.73 53.31 

The upper bed, last described, is represented 
by No. 3, the lower by No. 4. About 5 miles 
southward from the above locality the same bed 
makes its appearance on the farm of Mr. Hines ; 
here, however, it is highly magnetic, fine grained 
and dense, although still showing the decidedly 
slaty structure of the first of the Gaston beds. 
At this point it is reported as 3 to 4 feet thick. 

These ores are of conspicuous purity and ob- 
viously adapted to the manufacture of the higher 
grades of iron and of steel. And there is evi- 



COAL AND lEON OF NOETH CAEOLINA. 77 

dently a range of ore-beds here of considerable 
extent. 

In Granville County, about a mile north of Tar 
River, and the same distance eastward from Fish- 
ing Creek, is an outcrop of a coarse, granular, 
somewhat slaty magnetic ore, having very much 
the appearance of that of the upper bed at Gas- 
ton. The rock is a feldspathic talco-quartzitic 
and chloro-quartzitic slate. This bed is revealed 
only by the numerous fragments scattered over 
the surface through the forest for several rods 
along the roadside. This ore is in a small trian- 
gular patch of Huronian slates, intercalated be- 
tween the older rocks of the region. It is rex3orted 
that there are other outcrops of iron ore near 
Rainey's Mill, and also in the neighborhood 
of Lyon's Mill, but I have not seen either of 
them. 

Iron Ores of Johnston and Wake. — There is, 
according to Dr. Emmons, "a large deposit" of 
limonite four miles west of Smithfleld ; the spec- 
imens brought to the museum by Mr. Guest, 
owner of the land, resemble very closely the bog 
ore of Duplin ; they are more or less sandy and 
earthy, irregular lumps, or nodules. 

Another "bluff" of limonite is referred to by 
Emmons as found at Whitaker's, seven miles 
southwest of Raleigh, in Wake County. These 
last two are in the Huronian slates. And hand 
specimens of very coarsely crystalline magnetite 
of ten to fifteen pounds weight, associated with 
syenite, are found within a mile of Raleigh ; and 
compact hematite also occurs in veins in the same 
vicinity. These and other specimens of these 
species and of limonite are from different parts of 
the County, and are from the surface, as no open- 



78 COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

ings have been made ; but they indicate the very 
common occurrence of this mineral. 

Iron Ores of Cliatliamfi and Orange, — One of 
the best known and most important iron mines of 
this region is on the borders of Harnett, the BucJc- 
liorn Mine. It is about seven miles below the 
forks of the Cape Fear, on a hill nearly 200 feet 
high, overlooking the river from the left bank. 
The ore occurs as a bed, capping the hill and 
sloping from the river, with a dij) of 20° to 25° 
towards the northwest. It is massive at the out- 
crop, and breaks out in large angular blocks. 
The lower portion of the bed, which contains much 
manganese and less iron in proportion, is of a 
mottled gray and dull reddish color at the sum- 
mit, and at the distance of two or three hundred 
yards along the slope, is a light colored and gray 
and spotted (black and dirty white,) ferriferous, 
manganesian slate. Occasional sheets of lami- 
nated black oxide of manganese occur, one or 
two inches In thickness. Some parts of the bed 
are slightly magnetic. The thickness is about 36 
feet at the outcrop, and diminishes to 20 at the 
lower quarries, 200 to 300 yards distant. 

The ore is properly described as specular ; it is 
of a dull, dark gray to blackish color, subcrystal- 
line structure, and uneven fracture. The streak 
is dark red. Occasional fragments of the ore 
show a tendency to lamination, and in such cases 
the di\dsional planes are commonly coated with 
mica crystals. The character of this ore is very 
like that of the Iron Mountain, Mo., and its ex- 
tent and mode of occurrence strongly suggest the 
Pilot Knob. It is at least equal to either of these 
notable iron ore deposits in quantity, and is 
equally pure, and has the advantage of both in 



COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 79 

the presence of large percentages of manganese, 
and the capacity to produce spiegeleiseii, without 
admixture of other ores. It is not difficult to 
foresee that this must speedily become the nucleus 
of a large iron manufacturing interest ; especially 
when the remarkable facilities for manufacturing, 
in the way of water power, (heretofore noted,) and 
the proximity of coal in abundance, are taken 
into account. 

The rocks of this region are slaty, gray gneiss 
and mica slata with occasional patches of massive 
light gray granite. 

The rock which underlies the ore is a light- 
colored, feldspathic slaty gneiss, which readily de- 
composes. The neighboring hills, at the distance 
ot half a mile, both north and south, are reported 
to show many scattered fragments of the same 
ore on the surface ; and on the right bank of the 
riverj on nearly the same level with the Buckhorn 
Mine, at the distance of about one mile southwest, 
is the Douglass Mine. This is a recurrence of 
the Buckhorn bed, on the scale and with the fea- 
tures of its lower exposures, being more schistose 
in structure, some of the strata being in fact 
simply gneiss and mica slate, with disseminated 
grains and laminse of hematite (and magnetite), 
and the lower strata passing into a slaty manga- 
nesian silicate. The thickness, not very well ex- 
posed, seems to be ten to twelve feet. Angular 
fragments of dark, dense, granular ore, with a 
black, manganese stain, are scattered over several 
acres of the hill top, indicating a wide extension 
of the bed. From the facts stated, it will be ap- 
parent that these different beds are mere remnant 
fragments of an ancient and very extensive de- 
posit which has been almost entirely removed l)y 



80 GOAL AKD lEOlsr OF NORTH CAROLII^A. 

denudation, and carried away by the erosive ac- 
tion of the river. 

Abont one mile north of the Buckhorn Mine is 
a small vein about one foot thick, of a highly 
magnetic ore. Its strike is N. 60° and dip east- 
ward 30°. The gangue is an epidotic quartzite. 
There are two openings on the vein, called the 
Pegram Mine. An analysis of this ore for the 
owners by Mr. C. E. Buck, gave 56.57 per cent, of 
iron and 1.51 of titanic acid. This group of mines 
is worked by the American Iron and Steel Com- 
pany, who have erected a charcoal furnace, the 
first of eight proposed, at the Buckhorn Locks, 
nearly two miles above the ore bank. They have 
already expended uj)wards of $300,000 in opening 
the navigation of the river for a distance of some 
forty miles above the ore bank, through the coal 
deposits, and they have also repaired the Endor 
furnace and put it in blast, and have been making 
a very superior car-wheel iron. The product is 
mostly a spiegeleisen, of which the following 
partial analyses by Mr. Lobdell, will show the 
peculiarities : 

5 6 7 

Manganese 4.573 6.50 4.88 

Silicon 0.233 0.14 0.38 

Sulphur 0.015 0.009 

Phosphorus 0. 051 0. 12 0. 095 

The copy of these analyses was accompanied 
by the remark, "The above samples were made 
while the furnace was running on ordinary iron, 
no attempt having been made to produce spiegel- 
eisen. The j)liosphorus and suli)hur were reduced 
from the fluxes employed, as the Buckhorn ore 
used contained only very slight traces of these 
impurities." 



OOAL AND lEON OP NOETH CAEOLINA. 81 

The origin of this peculiar and valuable product, 
which was altogether accidental, will be apparent 
on the inspection of the analyses given below. 
These were made for the company in the course 
of their operations, by Gr. G. Lobdell, of the firm, 
and C. E. Buck, of Wilmington, Del., and by 
the Chemist of the Pennsylvania Steel Com- 
pany. 

8 9 10 11 13 

Silica 14.45 5.65 12.80 30.50 7.50 

Alumina 0.80 5.20 19.20 8.49 

Oxide of Manganese. .. trace 22.80 7.52 

Phosphorus trace trace .02 04 

Sulphur 0.06 trace 0.03 0.02 

Iron 56.70 66.50 54.15 18.41 55.00 

Of these, Nos. 8, 9 and 10 are from the upper 
and main portion of the Buckhorn bed, and No. 
11 from the lower manganesian section. This 
last analysis suggests the presence, in this part 
of the bed, of the mineral knebelite, a character- 
istic ore of the most famous Swedish spiegeleisen 
mines. No, 12 is the Douglass ore, on the other 
side of the river. 

Besides the localities already mentioned, a num- 
ber of additional outcrops of ore have been noted, 
mostly magnetic ; one for example, two miles 
north of Buckhorn, (at Dewar's) yielding 57.77 
per cent, of iron, (no phosphorus or sulphur), and 
three or four others in a southwest direction, for 
ten miles, to the head waters of Little River, — at 
McNeill's, Dalrymple's and Buchanan's; analy- 
ses as follows, respectively : 

Iron 52.90 36.47 53.25 

Sulphur 0.05 0.05 0.04 

Phosphorus... 0.12 0.11 0.57 

6 



82 COAL Al^D IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Near Haywood, in tlie angle formed by the 
junction of the Haw and DeeiD rivers, in the red 
sandstone of the Triassic, there has been opened 
a series of parallel beds of a red-ochreous earthy 
ore, on the lands of Dr. Smith. The only bed ex- 
posed at the time of my visit, was 20 to 25 inches 
thick, dix)ping southeast with the sandstone, 20^ 
to SO*^. The ore has a rough likeness to the 
'^Clinton" or "Fossil ore "of New York, etc., 
and the " Dystone " of Tennessee, but has a much 
coarser and more irregular texture, and is com- 
posed of rounded concretionary masses of various 
sizes from that of the Clinton grains to -J and f 
inch and upward. It is commonly more or less 
compacted into congiomeritic masses, often of the 
entire thickness of the bed, but frequently it is 
loosely and slightly comi)acted, and when thrown 
out, crumbles to a heap of very coarse gravel. 
The ore is partly limonite, but seems to be largely 
changed to red hematite. The following analyses 
of samples taken from different parts of the beds, 
whose outcrops extend over an area of several 
acres, will exhibit the character of the ore : 

13 14 

Silica 23 50 

Alumina 3-54 

Sesquioxide of Irou 69.73 67.50 

Protoxide of Iron 0.84 

Bisulphide of Iron 0.17 

Phosphoric Acid 0. 10 

Lime 0.90 

Magnesia 0.24 

Water and loss 5.03 ; giving 

Iron 49.56 47.25 

The second of these analyses represents the ore 
as it occurs on the lands of Mr. Richard Smith, 



COAL AND lEON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 83 

adjoining the preceding. This ore makes its ap- 
pearance again about a mile from Sanford, some 
12 miles distant, where it Avas opened and worked 
to some extent during the late war. Only one 
bed was exposed here, w^hich is about 20 inches 
thick. The ore is easily dug and shoveled from 
the bed and crumbles into a heap of very coarse, 
reddish-brown gravel, a rough sort of sliot ore. 
The preceding analyses will nearl^^- enough repre- 
sent the composition of this also. 

The next ores demanding attention are the Black ' 
Band and Ball ore, or "kidney ore" of the coal 
measure. These are earthy and calcareous car- 
bonates of iron, imbedded in the black carbona- 
ceous shales which enclose the coal, or interstrat- 
ified with the coal itself. These ores seem to be 
co-extensive with the coal on Deep River, out- 
cropping every where with it, and at several places 
outside of its limits. Two seams are shown in the 
sections, and there is a third in the bottom shales, 
not penetrated at the Gulf, but shown in the 
Egypt section, as accompanying the lower coal, 
30 feet below the main seam. 

Emmons also speaks of another seam of argilla- 
ceous carbonate as occurring at the depth of 230 
feet in the shaft at Egypt, and four occurrences 
of it are indicated as ball ore in the Egypt section. 
Emmons says of this argillaceous carbonate, *'It 
contains 33 per cent, of metallic iron ; the surface 
ores being altered contain 50 per cent.," and he 
describes it as occurring "in balls, or in continu- 
ous beds.'' About the Gulf it occurs in rounded 
llattish masses, 5 or 6 to 8 or 10 inches in diam- 
eter. They are dense, uncrystalline and heavy, of 
a light gray to drab color, and are pretty thickly 
distributed in parallel layers of one to two or 



84 COAL AND IROK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

three feet thickness. An analysis by Prof. 
Schseffer, as given in Admiral Wilkes' report to 
the Secretary of the ISTavy in 1858, is as follows : 
protoxide of iron 40 per cent., silica 13, earthy 
matter 13, carbonaceous matter 34. This is evi- 
dently a black band ore. The following is an anal- 
ysis (by Buck) of the ball ore proper, as it occurs 
at the Gulf, and such as was used extensively 
and successfully as a flux during the late war : 

15 

BiUca 6.04 

Alumina 0.48 

Protoxide of Iron 14.51 

Sesquioxide of Iron 1.63 

Litoe 29.57 

Magnesia 6. 51 

Carbonic Acid 38. 30 

Pliosphoric Acid 0.92 

Sulphuric Acid 0.19 

Organic Matter 1 .45 

Water 0.40 

Which gives 52.80 per cent, of carbonate of 
lime, and 13.60 of carbonate of magnesia. Its 
adaptation to the purposes of a flux is obvious. 

There are many outcroi)s of ferriferous lime- 
stone in the neighborhood of Egypt (and the 
Endor furnace), among others this, near Dowd's 
Saw Mill : 

Lime, 31.68 

Magnesia 0,79 

Sesquioxide of Iron, 9.60 ; no sulphur or phosphorus. 

But oyster shells from the Tertiary bluff s below 
Fayetteville, and limestone from the Eocene beds 
about Wilmington, have been also used as fluxes 
in the furnaces of the region, and on account of 
their greater purity and abundance, and their 
ready accessibility and cheap transportation, will 
doubtless become the chief resource for fluxing. 



COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 85 

The seam of hlack 'band between the main coal 
beds in the Egyi)t shaft, is stated by Wilkes to 
be 16 inches, the lower one to consist of two thick- 
nesses of 3 feet each, separated by a thin seam of 
coal between. He adds, ^' This ore is readily dis- 
tinguished from a slate by its browmish black 
color." The analysis of this ore by Dr. Jackson, 
published in Emmons' report, gives : 

Carbon, 31.30 

Peroxide of Iron (Protoxide?), . . . 47.50 

Silica, 9.00 

Volatile Matter, 8.81 

Sulphur, 3.39 

Emmons adds, " The roasted ore gives sulphur 
0.89 per cent." An analysis by Schseffer for 
Wilkes, gives only 17 per cent, of iron, and 42 of 
carbonaceous matter ; specilic gravity 2.12. 

The following analyses of samples selected 
from a recent opening at the Gulf, have been just 
completed for the survey by Mr. Hanna : 

16 17 18 19 

Specific Gravity, 2.361 3.150 2.110 2.110 

Silica, 9.154 7.089 34.380 5.188 

Alumina, 4.244 0.127 19.638 4.060 

Protoxide of Iron 19.419 33.802 12.361 9.614 

Sesquioxide of Iron, 0.000 1.755 1.430 0.938 

Sulphide of Iron, 10.485 2.145 2.023 7.146 

Oxide of Manganese, 1.750 1.980 0.995 1.500 

Lime, 9.520 12.672 3.100 14.040 

Magnesia 1.490 1.170 1.220 0.863 

Alkalies, 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 

Sulphuric Acid, trace 0.170 trace 0.152 

Phosphoric Acid, 4.960 6.820 0.730 6.300 

Volatile Matter 22.065 27.215 14.913 15.009 

Carbon, 16.213 4.726 6.562 34.473 

Water, 0.700 0.300 2.588 0.717 

100.000 00.000 100.000 100.000 
Ash, or Roasted Ore, 60.475 73.070 76.902 48.571 



SQ COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Of which the composition is as follows : 

20 21 22 23 

Silica, 15.137 9.849 44.740 10.684 

Alumina, 7.018 0.178 25.527 8.359 

Sesquioxide of Iron, 46.360 56.562 20.922 33.252 

Sulphide of Iron, 0.909 0.000 0.788 0.530 

Oxide of Manganese, 2.895 2.749 1.294 3.089 

Lime, 15.742 17.585 4.108 28.914 

Magnesia, 2.464 1.624 1.587 1.777 

Sulphuric Acid 1.273 1.989 0.085 0.421 

Phosphoric Acid, 8.202 9.464 0.949 12.974 

100.000 100.000 100.000 100.000 
Which give: 

Metallic Iron 33.032 39. 593 14.645 23 .619 

Sulphur, 0.839 0.800 0.319 .360 

Phosphorus, 8.581 4.131 0.474 5.664 

The quantity of phosphorus which these beds 
contain is very notable, and is, of course, due to 
their highly fossiliferous character. And yet not 
only were there no fossil bones visible, as in the 
Egypt beds, but no identifiable organisms of any 
description, not even a shell. Of course the high 
percentage of this element excludes these ores 
from the manufacture of wrought iron. They 
must await the perfecting of the new industry of 
"phosphorus steel;" or the discovery of a prac- 
ticable method for the elimination of this inju- 
rious ingredient. With this exception these ores 
are well constituted, containing the necessar}^ 
amount of carbon, of flux and of manganese, for 
the manufacture of iron very cheaply, by judic- 
ious mixing of the ores obtainable in the imme- 
diate neighborhood. It is not probable that this 
phosphatic fossiliferous character will follow the 
ore-beds and aj^pear at the other outcrops in the 
same force ; it is a character likely to be local. 
An investigation of these beds at other points is 



COAL AND IKON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 87 

therefore very important and will be instituted as 
soon as practicable. Such ores are, however, val- 
uable for casting. Outside of the line of outcrops 
of the coal, and within a few rods of it, is a bed 
of limonite belonging to the underlaying shales. 
The thickness is 2 to 3 feet, and it is traceable for 
a considerable distance along the surface. Prob- 
ably it is the result of the weathering of some of 
the argillaceous carbonates already described. 
And a similar outcrop has been noticed, and the 
bed partly stripped, at a point H niiles southeast 
of Egypt, on Pretty Creek, known as the Mclver 
ore-bed. It is 20 inches thick. This is a very 
slaty and somewhat shaly limonite, with occa- 
sional masses of ore of considerable size, and is 
embedded in shales. It is obviously the result of 
the oxidation of one of the black- band or argilla- 
ceous carbonate seams already described, but it is 
in the forest, and its exact geological relations are 
concealed, as well by vegetation as by overlying 
earth. An analysis of a sample of this ore, by 
Buck, for the Company above refered to, gives 
the following result- 
Metallic Iron, 47.59 

Sulphur 0.14 

Phosphorus, 0.94 

T7ie Evans Tein is about 6 miles north of the 
Gulf, on the Graham road. It is 6 feet thick. 
This ore is a hematite, non-crystalline, scarcely 
sub-metaUic, hardness 6 to 6^, jaspery, non-mag- 
netic, dark gray to bluish black, streak dark-red, 
fracture sub-conchoidal. The country is (Huron- 
ian) talcoid and chloritic argillite, which is a sort 
of spotted slate conglomerate, in the hill a few 
hundred yards beyond. Wilkes gives the fol- 
lowing analysis, (by Schseffer) : 



88 COAL AJN^D IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



Peroxide of Iron 96.4 

Silica, , 3.1 

Earthy Matter 1.5 

The ore is scattered abundantly in fragments 
over the surface of several acres. Emmons traced 
the vein three quarters of a mile. He speaks 
also of another vein of hematite (specular, crys- 
talline,) on the neighboring farm of Mr. Glass, 
which was revealed only hy surface fragments ; 
and also of '' a magnetic ore of hne quality on the 
plantation of T. Unthank, two or three miles beyond 
the Evans place ;' ' and another of the same class 
at Head en's, near Ore Hill. Another locality is 
noted by both Emmons and Wilkes as containing 
a bed of reddish-brown ore, which is magnetic. It 
is represented as 2|- feet thick at the Tysor place, 
and as occurring at various other points. The 
analysis quoted by Wilkes from Emmons, gives : 

Peroxide of Iron, 79. 72 

Carbon 7.37 

Silica 4.00 

Water 8.80 ; containing 

Iron, ^1. 

But the most noted iron locality in Chatham 
County is known as Ore Hill. The rock is a talco- 
quartzose slate, knotted and toughened with 
much tremolite. The ore is limonite, with the 
exception of one vein near the top and back of 
the hill, which is a hematite, (in part specular), 
and much resembling the Evans ore. There is 
much of this ore on the surface in scattered frag- 
ments, indicating a vein of considerable extent, 
which, however, had not been exposed. Most of 
the other veins have been opened, but the pits 



COAL AND IRON OF NOETH CAROLINA. 89 

and tunnels were so mucli filled and fallen in that 
no accurate measurements could be taken at the 
time of my visit last year. But it was easy to see 
that two or three of them were very large,— 10, 
15 feet and upwards. The ore is very spongy, 
porous, scoriaceous, botryoidal, mammillary, 
stalactitic, tabular, foliated, dendritic, and of 
many fantastic and nondescript forms. The 
workmen state that there are large cavities (vuggs) 
in some parts of the veins. 

The analyses below are of samples from the 90 
feet shaft, nearest the hematite vein, and may be 
considered as fairly representative : 

24 25 

Silica ,, 1.42 3.79 

Alumina 

Sesquioxide of Iron 82.02 83.69 

Protoxide " " 0.11 

Lime 1.19 

Magnesia 0. 11 

Phosphoric Acid 0.00 trace 

Sulphuric Acid 0.00 0.77 

Water 15.26 

100.00 
Metallic Iron 57.41 58.67 

The first of these analyses was made by Chatard, 
for Dr. Genth, the second by Mr. Hanna. This 
ore was worked on a considerable scale during 
the American Revolution, and again during the 
late civil war, and the iron is reported to have 
been of good quality ; and it is obviously an ore 
very readily smelted. The presence of the hema- 
tite vein and the proximity of the ball ore, which 
was successfully used as a flux in the last work- 
ing of the furnace, furnish admirable conditions 
for advantageous iron manufacture. And it is 



90 COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

gratifying to be able to state tliat there is a pros- 
pect of the immediate development of the prop- 
erty by the Philadelphia and Canadian capitalists 
who have lately come into possession. 

Besides the ores above described, there are 
many others, of which specimens have been 
brought or forwarded to the Museum, from vari- 
ous parts of the County and region, magnetite, 
hematite and limonite, representing veins and 
deposits of whose extent I have no information. 
It is worth while to mention two of such spec- 
imens, one from Chatham, (between Lockville 
and Endor), and the other from the adjoining 
County of Moore, Governor' s Creek, as they are 
almost the only examples of the species of ore 
called jaspery clay iron stone yet found in the 
State. The former contains 48.92 per cent, of 
iron, phosphorus 0.39. 

A fine quality of magnetic ore, dense, metallic 
and very pure, is found on the east side of Haw 
River and about 2 miles distant, at the foot of 
Tyrreirs Mountain, on the farm of Mr. Snipes. 
The vein has not been fully exposed, but is re- 
ported to be 3 or 4 feet. It is in syenite, and 
has an epidotic gangue. 

The analysis (made by Lobdell) is as follows : 

Silica 1.63 

Alumina 6.60 

Magnetic Oxide of Iron 88.41 

Manganese 0.56 

Lime trace 

Magnesia 0.85 

Phosphoric Acid 0.00 

Sulphur 0.13 

Metallic Iron 63.49 

A very fine micaceous hematite is found near 



COAL AND lEON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 91 

tlie mouth oC Collins' Creek, a few miles above, 
in Orange County. It lias not been exjDlored, 
but surface fragments are reported to be abund- 
ant. 

But the most notable ore bank yet opened in 
this County, is that at Chapel Hill. It is a very 
dense, steel-gray, hematite, (specular in part), 
with slight magnetic indications. The vein is 
found on a hill one mile north from Chapel Hill, 
and more than 200 feet above the creek at its base. 
The rock is a gray granite and syenite, but the 
vein is carried by a much- jointed, fine grained, 
ferruginous, slaty quartzite of several rods' 
breadth, the iron-bearing portion of it, the vein 
proper, being 7 to 10 feet at the main shaft, and 
suddenly enlarging near the summit of the hill, 
just beyond the second shaft, to 25 and 30 feet. 
The hill top is covered with angular fragments of 
the ore of all sizes, up to more than 100 pounds 
weight. 

The character of the ore is shown by^the fol- 
lowing analysis : 

26 

Silica 2.63 

Alumina 1.68 

Protoxide of Iron 2.45 

Sesquioxide " 91. 24 

Oxide of Manganese 0.34 

Lime 0.56 

Magnesia .^ 0.00 

Phosphoric Acid .' 0.04 

Sulphur 0. 11 

99.05 
Iron 65.77 

The ore is of notable purity, and the practical 
tests to which it has been subjected have con- 
firmed the indications of the analysis, that it is an 



92 COAL AND IRON OF NOETH CAROLINA. 

ore of high grade ; and the quantity is very great. 
The vein has a dip to the west at an angle which 
is a little short of 90". A second vein of the same 
character, 5 or 6 feet thick, crosses the main vein 
near the first shaft. The ore becomes poorer as 
the vein is followed beyond the summit of the 
hill northward, until at the distance of 150 yards 
beyond the upper shaft, the quartzite predomi- 
nates and the ore becomes poor. 

There are surface indications on the neighboring 
hills, both north and south, for several miles, 
which show that this vein has a considerable ex- 
tension ; and in fact it may be considered as a 
continuation of the hematite veins of Deep River. 
And a magnetic ore makes its appearance about 
20 miles northeastward, 3 miles beyond the upper 
forks of the Neuse E-iver, in the sou tli east corner 
of Orange County, on Knapp of Reed's Creek, on 
the farm of Mr. Jos. Woods. The rock here is 
clay slate, more or less chl critic and quartzitic, 
and thin bedded. The ore is slaty, and is in fact 
an impregnation of the chloritic argillaceous 
quartzite with granular magnetite and hematite. 
The ore is very extensively scattered over a suc- 
cession of hills, for about a mile, in a northeast 
direction. The ore bed outcrops at one point for 
a few rods, where it appears to Ibe about 3 feet 
thick, and has a strike N. 40*^ E., and dips at an 
angle of 70" to the northw^est. The bed seems to 
be duplicated towards the northeastern termina- 
tion, another line of fragments marking the course 
of a parallel vein several rods to the east of the 
former. This last is associated with a bright ver- 
milion red, and a banded, black and red jasper. 
The ore is of good quality, as will be seen by the 
following analysis by Dr. Genth : 



COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 93 

27 

Silica 20.38 

Magnetic Oxide of Iron '. 75.69 

Magnesia 1.26 

Pliosphoric Acid 0.05 

Water, &c 2.63 • which gives 

Metallic Iron 54.81 

An analysis of another sample (by a different 
chemist), gave iron 56.50. 

Hand specimens of very fine magnetite and 
specular ore have been brought to the Museum 
from many other parts of Orange County, but no 
information has been received as to their quantity. 

At Mt. Tirzah, in the southeast corner of 
Person, near the Orange line, there is a vein of 
hematite, (specular) from which iron was made to 
some extent during the war. The vein is de- 
scribed as about 6 feet thick. The specimen sent 
to the Museum indicates a very fine ore, resem- 
bling that at Buckhorn. 

The ores of Montgomery and Randolph belong 
properly (geologically) to the Chatham range; 
they are found in the same great slate belt (Hu- 
ronian), that constitutes the most notable feature 
of the middle region of the State, both geologi- 
cally and mineralogically. The best knoAvn of 
these ores is found near Franklinsville, Randolph 
County. And another vein has been opened near 
Ashboro, both of specular hematite. Some of 
the strongest and most highly prized iron ob- 
tained during the war came from this locality. 
It was all devoted to the manufacture of shafts 
and other machinery for the Steam Rams (iron- 
clads) and the like. Dr. Emmons describes an 
occurrence of hematite of apparently considerable 
extent 7 miles southwest of Troy, in Montgomery 
County ; he says it is free from sulphur and a 



94 COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

very pure ore. Aiiotlier occurrence of ore, — mag- 
netite, is noted by him 4 miles north of Troy. It 
is found with talcose slate, and is soft and friable, 
and contains seams of hematite. 

Iron Ores of Guilford County. One of the 
most remarkable and persistent ranges of iron ore 
in the State crosses the County of Guilford in a 
northeast and southwest direction, passing about 
10 miles northwest of Greensboro, near Friend- 
ship. It extends from the head waters of Ab- 
bott's Creek, in Davidson Countj^, entirely across 
Guilford to Haw Kiver, in Rockingham, a distance 
of some 30 miles, making its appearance on nearly 
every iDlantation, and indeed almost every hill- 
side in the range. 

The ore is granular magnetite, and is everywhere 
titaniferous. It is usually rather coarse grained 
and frequently associated with crystals of chlorite 
in small seams and scattered bunches. The ore 
is in the form of beds, which partake of all the 
foldings and fractures and irregularities of bed- 
ding to be expected in a region where only the 
oldest me tam Orphic rocks are found. The de- 
posits lie along, and just west of the line of junc- 
tion of what is provisionally set down as the 
lower and upper Laurentian series of granitic 
rocks. There is a second, but much more inter- 
rupted range of ore parallel to the one just de- 
scribed, and lying a few miles to the northwest. 
I visited this region in 1871, in company with Dr, 
F. A. Genth, who was at that time Chemist and 
Mineralogist to the Survey. 

The entire range was taken into the tour, and 
specimens carefully selected from many points by 
Dr. G. for analysis, so as to ascertain the average 
character, as well as to eliminate the local pecu- 



COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 95 

liarities of the beds. Fortunately, an association 
of Pennsylvania capitalists, the North Carolina 
Center Iron and Mining Company, had invested 
largely along this range of ores, and had recently 
had the beds opened by trenching, at a great 
many points, so as to expose very well the gen- 
eral features of the deposits. And still more for- 
tunately, the Company had procured the services 
of Dr. J. P. Lesley, now the Director of the Penn- 
fsylvania Geological Survey ; and this distin- 
;;iiished Geologist had recently made a very care- 
i'lil study of the whole range, in all its bearings. 
I have before me his rej)ort, and shall give some 
of the more important points of his results. 
Whatever is found below on the subject of this 
range of ores, in quotation marks, is taken from 
this report, unless it is otherwise stated. 

It is questioned by many geologists whether all 
our North Carolina metamorphic rocks are not al- 
tered Silurian and Devonian, like most of those 
of New England. I am glad to have the support 
of so eminent an authority in the view presented in 
the map published some two years ago and main- 
tained in this report, that these azoic and crystal- 
line rocks of Middle North Carolina are Archaean 
of the most ancient type and date. 

^^ This part of North Carolina is occujjied by 
some of the oldest rocks known ; the same rocks 
^vhich hold the iron ore beds of Harford County, 
Maryland, and Chester County, Pennsylvania, 
and the gold ores of Georgia, North Carolina, 
Virginia and Canada. The gold mines of Guil- 
ford County, N. C. , are opened alongside of, and 
not more than ten or twelve miles distant from, 
the Tuscarora iron belt. Both the gold and iron 
range continuously, (with one break in New Jer- 



96 COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

sey,) all the way from Quebec, in Canada, to 
Montgomery, Ala. Tlie gold and iron bearing 
rocks are : Granites, gneissoid sandstones and 
mica slates, all very much weathered and decom- 
posed ; and to a depth of many fathoms beneath 
the present surface. The solid granites are de- 
composed least, the mica slates most. All con- 
tain iron, which has been peroxidized and hy- 
drated, in the process of decomposition of the 
whole formation, and dyes the country soil with 
a deep red tint. The surface of the country is 
a smooth, soft, undulating plain, broken by gen- 
tle vales, the bottoms of which are never more 
than 100 feet below the plain, and commonly not 
more than half that depth." 

The length of the outcrops, air line measure, is 
28 miles. 

''The beds were deposited like the rest of the 
rocks in water ; deposited in the same age with 
the rocks which hold them ; are in fact rock-de- 
posits highly charged with iron ; and they differ 
from the rest of the rocks only in this respect — 
that they are more highly charged with iron. 
In fact all our primary (magnetic and other) iron 
ore beds obey this law. They are merely certain 
strata consisting more or less comxDletely of j)er- 
oxide of iron, with more or less intermixture of 
sand and mud, which when crystallized, fall into 
the shape of feldspar, hornblende, mica, quartz, 
etc., etc. 

' ' The belt of outcrop of ore-bearing rocks has 
a uniform breadth of several hundred yards, and 
I believe a uniform dip towards the northwest or 
north-northwest. 

' ' The map, however, shows another ore belt, run- 
ning parallel with the former and at a distance of 



COAL AND lEON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 97 

three miles from it. This is called the Highfield 
or Shaw outcroj). Beyond Haw River the two 
belts approach each other, and are believed to 
unite in Rockingham County. This and other 
considerations make it almost certain that the 
Shaw belt is the northwest outcrop of a synclinal 
basin, three miles wide, and that the Tuscarora 
belt is the southeast outcrop. If so, the Tusca- 
rora ore-beds descend with a northwest dip to a 
depth of a mile beneath the surface, and then 
rise again as ore-beds at Highfield' s and Shaw's. 

' ' The locality of the ore beds is indicated by 
the occurrence of fragments of ore scattered over 
the surface ; and these are the indications by which 
nearly all iron ore deposits are discovered. Large 
pieces on the surface are the best evidence we can 
possess that the beds are of good size, for they 
have come from those portions of the bed, which 
have been destroyed in the general lowering of the 
surface of the country. There is no reason why 
the parts of the beds left under the present surface 
should not yield as large masses as the parts which 
have moldered away." 

As will be readily understood, from what has 
been stated above, the number of ore beds in the 
cross-section will be likely to vary from point to 
point along the range. " A large number of rock 
strata will become ore-beds locally. But there 
will always be a particular part of the formation 
more generally and extensively charged with 
great quantities of iron than the rest. In other 
words, the iron of the formation as a whole, is 
concentrated along one or more lines. This is 
evidently the case with the Tuscarora Ore Belt, as 
is shown in the almost perfect straightness of the 
outcrop of the Sergeant Shaft ore bed, where its 
7 



\ 

98 COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

outcrop lias been opened for half a mile north- 
east of the shaft. There are two principal beds 
cropjDing out on the Teague plantation, at the 
(southwest) end of the belt, both vertical, and 
about 300 yards asunder." And not only does 
the number of ore beds vary, but they are often 
very irregular in position. 

^^ Similar irregularities are noticeable every- 
where. The miners say that the pitch of the out- 
crop of the ore bed worked in the Sergeant Tun- 
nel and Shaft, was southeast for some distance 
down, after which it took its regular northwest 
dip, such as it now has in the shaft and tun- 
nel at the depth of 100 feet. Besides which, 
there are in fact two beds cut in this shaft-tun- 
nel, the smaller bed underlying the other, and 
with a dip which would carry the two beds to- 
gether at some distance beneath the floor." 

'^Another instance occurs on the Trueblood 
plantation, where the two ore-beds appear to be 
only 200 yards apart at their outcrops and seem 
to dij) different ways, which I explain by reference 
to the false surface dip of the Sergeant Shaft and 
bed." 

The sections made at the Shaw plantation (Shaw 
range) furnish a further illustration of these ir- 
regularities. " The ore-bed is full six feet across, 
solid ore, — a very green, chloritic, mica slate, rock- 
ore. In this run of 800 yards there are apparent- 
ly two hundred thousand (200,000) tons above 
water level, in the one six foot bed. The outcrop 
runs along the top of a hill about 100 feet above 
the bottom of Haw River Valley. There are appar- 
ent variations in the dip, some of the outcrops 
seeming to be vertical, whereas the principal part 
of the mining has already shown a distinct dip 



COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 99 

towards the soutlietist and south." The average 
dip of the ore-beds of this second range was ob 
served by Dr. Lesley to be considerably less than 
that of the Tiiscarora beds. 

The quantity of ore which this remarkable 
range is capable of yielding is obviously immense. 
The number and extent of the beds have been no- 
ted. Their size varies greatly. ''They consist 
of strings of lens-shaped masses, continually en- 
larging and contracting in thickness, from a few 
inches to 6 and 8 feet. The principal beds may 
be safely estimated on an average of four feet, and 
in the best mining localities the average yield of 
along gangway may reach five feet." ''It is 
evident that centuries of heavy mining could not 
exhaust it, for each of two or three principal beds 
may be entered and mined at fifty places." 

The kind of ore has been stated in general 
terms as titaniferous magnetite. More particu- 
larly, not only titanium, but chromium and man- 
ganese are uniformly present, as will be seen 
from Dr. Gen th' s analyses, given below. "The 
ore belongs to the family of primary ores, the 
same family to which the Chamx^lain (or Adiron- 
dack) ores, the Marquette (Lake Superior) ores, 
and the ore of the Iron Mountain in Mis- 
souri, belong. It is very similar to the New 
Jersey ores, which are so extensively mined for 
the furnaces on the Lehigh River. It is a mixture 
of magnetic crystals and specular plates of ses- 
quioxide of iron, with quartz, felspar and mica, 
in a thousand varying proportions. Sometinies 
the bed will be comi30sed of heavy, tight, massive 
magnetite (or titaniferous magnetite), v^itli very 
little quartz, &c. ; at other times of a loose, half - 
decomposed mica-slate or gneiss rock, full of scat- 



100 COAL AND lEON OF NOETH CAROLINA. 

tered crystals of magnetic iron. Tlie ore is, in 
fact, a decomposable gneiss rock, with a varying 
j)ercentage of titaniferons magnetic and specular 
iron ore, sometimes constituting half the mass, 
and sometimes almost the whole of it." 

Dr. Genth, who made a special chemical and 
mineralogical study of these ores, says in his re- 
port, X3ublished in the Mining Register^ ^'All 
the ores consist of mixtures of magnetic iron with 
titaniferons hematite, or menaccanite, j^robably 
also with rutile (titanic acid), mixed with a chlori- 
tic mineral, or a silvery micaceous one resulting 
from its decomposition. Some of the ores con- 
tain alumina in the form of granular corundum, 
in one or two places in such quantities that they 
become true emery ores. None of the constituents 
could be separated in a state of such purity that 
in all cases their true mineralogical character 
could be verified by analysis." 

But besides these characteristic ores of the beds 
described. Dr. Lesley mentions beds of ochre of 
various sizes, "as one of the constituent ele- 
ments of the whole formation. What the exact 
relationship of these ochre beds to the magnetic 
ore-beds, I do not know. But the ochre outcrop 
seems to be always in the immediate vicinity of 
the ore-beds. The largest exhibition of ochre 
which I saw, is on the I. Somers plantation, on 
Brushy Creek. Here an ochre bed twenty feet 
thick rises, nearly vertical, out of a gully in a 
hillside covered with small XDieces of fine, compact 
ore. The whole aspect of this place gives an im- 
pression of an abundance of ore beneath the sur- 
face, but no openings on the beds which have 
furnished these fragments have been made." 

The following table iDresents the analyses of 



COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 101 

sixteen samples, collected, as stated, by Dr. 
Genth, along the wliole length of this range of 
ore beds in 1871 : 

28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 

Silicic Acid, 0.76 

Titanic Acid, 13.52 

Mag. Ox. Iron, 79..53 

Ox. Man. and Cobalt, 0.81 

Ox. Chromium, 0.46 

Alumina, 1.68 

Magnesia, 2.79 

Lime, 0.45 

Water, 

100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 
Metallic Iron,.. .. 57.68 52.68 59.03 56.21 56.41 55.06 41.95 67.60 21.63 

37' 38 39 40 41 

Silicic Acid, 0.50 1.80 0.74 1.39 0.98 

Titanic Acid, 12.37 14.46 13.93 0.78 3.42 

Mag Ox. Iron 79.1G 74.81 76.80 43.77 46.39 

Ox. Man. and Cobalt, . . 1.31 1.53 1.30 IM 1.37 

Ox. Chromium 0.57 0.97 1.07 0:30 trace. 

Alumina, 3.63 3.66 3.83 53.34 44.86 

Magnesia, 3.04 3.09 1-80 0.68 3.37 

Lime 0.63 0.69 0.55 0.84 0.91 



5.68 


0.40 


1.84 


1.76 


1..30 


12.75 


1.30 


26.80 


11.67 


11.95 


13.28 


12.35 


13.60 


15.35 


1.27 


16.20 


72.74 


81.89 


77.62 


77.90 


76.04 


.57.93 


93.63 


30.90 


0.64 


1.02 


0.95 


1.10 


0.96 


1.15 


0.93 


1.55 


0.48 


1.07 


0.65 


1.10 


0.72 


1.25 


1.43 


0.43 


5.08 


1.06 


2.30 


2..54 


4.26 


.5.17 


0.55 


8.87 


2.61 


1.99 


2.01 


2.41 


2-33 


4.14 


0.75 


U)M) 


0.76 


0.24 


0.58 


0..51 


0.60 


0.90 


0.14 


1.40 


0.34 


o.;38 


0.77 


0.79 


0.18 


1.36 




3.55 



100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 
Metallic Iron,.... 57.33 54.17 55.61 30.97 33.53 

The following are Dr. G.'s notes in part : '^Nos. 
28 and 29, K. fi. Swain, Davidson County. The 
ores on this place are both massive and granular 
magnetite, with small admixtures of greenish chlo- 
rite, mostly betw^een the fracture j)lants, jDartly 
altered to the above-mentioned silvery- white or 
brownish-w^hite micaceous mineral, and those in 
which the latter forms a conspicuous constituent. 
Both kinds were analyzed ; 28, the massive ore ; 
29, the micaceous. 

''No. 30. Elisha Charles, Guilford county. 



102 COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

The ore is granular, iron- black, witli small quan- 
tities of the silvery micaceous mineral. 

''No. 31. Widow Cook. The ore is similar to 
the last, although a little more chloritic and mi- 
caceous in little patches throughout the mass. 

"No. 32. John Clark. The ore closely resem- 
bles that from the Widow Cook's planta- 
tion. 

"No. 33. Widow Stanley, Sergeant Shaft. 
The ore is comx^act, granular, iron-black ; it shows 
rarely octahedral crystals of magnetite, and is as- 
sociated with dark green, foliated chlorite, espec- 
ially on the fracture planes. 

"No. 34, 35, 36. Widow McCuisten. The 
greatest variety of ores exist at this plantation. 
They are peculiar but highly interesting and im- 
portant. No. 34 is the soft micaceous ore : 35, 
the magnetic portion of 34 ; 36, the non- magnetic 
portion. 

"No. 37. W. A. Lewis. Very fine granular 
ore, with very little admixture of chlorite. 

"No. 38. Levi G. Shaw, K-ockingham. Fine 
grained, black, slightly micaceous ; shows a some- 
what stratified structure. 

" No. 39. P. Hopkins (Alcorn Farm), Rock- 
ingham. Very fine-grained, black, fragile ore, 
with little admixture of foreign substances. 

"No. 40. Granular, reddish ore. It has much 
the appearance of a granular reddish-brown gar- 
net, for which it has been mistaken, until the 
analysis proved it to be not a silicate, mixed with 
granular magnetite, but corundum. 

"If this and the next should be found in quan- 
tity, they would be of considerable value, as a 
good quality of eTYiery. 

" No. 41. Granular grayish ore. This is of a 



COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 103 

similar quality, and is found at the same locality; 
the minute grains of corundum have a yellowish 
or brownish- white color, and show in many places 
cleavage fractures, which give it the ax)pearance 
of a feldspathic mineral. 

" From these analyses it is seen that the aver- 
age of the ten specimens of original iron ore, which 
represent the whole range for a distance of nearly 
30 miles, is : Iron 54. Gl per cent. Titanium 8.07 
=13.24 per cent, of titanic acid. The ratio be- 
tween titanium and iron is=l ; 6.77. 

' ' All the ores were examined for sulphur and 
phosphorus, and were found to be entirely free 
from these substances." 

As there seems to be an unfavorable impression 
of the titaniferous ores in some quarters, it is 
worth while to quote Dr. Lesley on the subject of 
the effect of titanic acid in iron ores, as there is no 
higher authority in this country : ''This kind is 
difficult to smelt in the high-stack blast furnaces ; 
but makes the best iron in the world, when smelt- 
ed in the Catalan forge ; and is of great value for 
the lining of puddling furnaces. It serves the 
same purpose as the Lake Superior ore, which is 
brought in large quantities to Pittsburg and 
the surrounding district of Eastern Ohio and 
Western Pennsylvania, for lining puddling fur- 
naces and to mix with poorer ores in the blast- 
furnaces. 

"The titaniferous magnetic ores of the Ottowa 
region, in Canada, are also brought by a long and 
expensive route to Pittsburg, to mix with Penn- 
sylvania ores. These Canada ores are of the same 
geological age, and of the same mineral character 
as the Tuscarora ores under consideration. There 
cannot be a question that these Tuscarora North 



104 COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Carolina ores will command a high price at the 
iron works of Eastern Pennsylvania. 

' ' The trial of the ore has been made by Mr. 
Nathan Rowland, at his works in Kensington, 
PhiladeliDliia. Five tons were forwarded for trial 
as lining to puddling furnaces. Mr. Rowland ex- 
pressed his opinion that it stood up three times 
as long as the Champlain ore, which he uses for 
that purpose. The difference is due to the supe- 
rior compactness of titaniferous magnetite over 
that of pure crystalline magnetite. I believe that 
mining operations here would be successful, if 
they were entirely confined to this one branch of 
the business, so great is the demand for the best 
puddler's lining ores." Dr. Lesley says that 
these ores are " essentially like those of Northern 
New Jersey, as to age, situation, consistency and 
general composition," but unlike in this titanifer- 
ous quality. " The New Jersey ores seldom pos- 
sess this property, and in any case, only in a low 
degree. The Canada ore and the ores of South 
Sweden hold large quantities of titanic acid ; even 
as much, sometimes, as between 30 and 40 per 
cent. A small, — very minute quantity of titan- 
ium in pig iron, is believed to add greatly to its 
value, increasing its hardness and firm^-^ss, and 
its ability to stand wear. The Canadian ores were 
introduced to the Pittsburg iron works for this 
end." 

It has been stated above that these titaniferous 
ores are difficult to smelt, ' ' requiring a much 
higher heat in the stack to decompose, than ox- 
ide of iron does." But they labor under another 
disadvantage, of suffering a loss of iron in the 
process of smelting ; the reason of which is that 
''the only solvents of the titanic acid are the 



COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 105 

double silicates of iron and lime, or iron and 
alumina and lime, or iron^ potash and lime, etc." 
And of course the more titanic acid, the greater 
the waste of iron in the slag. These Guilford ores, 
therefore, ''have the advantage, that, while many 
of the Canada ores hold 25 and 30 and 35 per cent, 
of titanic acid," those contain less than 14, on an 
average. And at the same time ^' they have all 
the advantage which the presence of titanium af- 
fords : 1st. Making the ore so firm that it is the 
best possible for lining puddling furnaces : 2nd. 
Making the iron tougher and harder, like the best 
Swedish iion : 3d. Imparting a certain quality, 
(the cause of which is not yet understood), which 
adapts the iron especially for the manufacture of 
steely "The titanized iron is found to be exceed- 
ingly strong, and is used in Europe for armor 
plates, commanding three times the price of ordin- 
ary pig iron. ' ' Muchet' s steel is made from titanif- 
erous ores, for the manipulation and utilization of 
which, in the manufacture of steel and high grade 
iron, that gentleman has taken out no less than 
13 patents in England, where Norwegian ores con- 
taining 41 per cent, of titanic acid are successfully 
employed, as stated by Dr. Lesley on the authori- 
ty of Osborne. 

" There is no question that titanium in iron ore 
favors the production of iron peculiarly suited to 
conversion into steel. The English steel trade has 
always largely depended on Swedish iron ; and 
I believe that the titaniferous ores of the United 
States, (and they are far from abundant), will be- 
come annually more and more valuable, on ac- 
count of the demand increasing for the best iron 
for steel making purposes." 

Dr. Lesley refers also to the fact that the 



106 COAL AND IRON Oi' NORTH CAROLINA. 

ochre-beds already described as accompanying the 
iron ore range, furnish a superior flux for these 
ores. ' ' The ochre must become a fluid double- 
silicate, without robbing the ore, and will carry off 
the excess of titanic acid." 

An analysis by A. A. Fesquet, which he gives 
of " this ochre, which forms large beds on the 
outcrops of the more ferruginous feldspathic 
rocks,'' is added : 

Sesquioxide of Iron 19.43 

Silica 34. 12 

Alumina 33.21 

Water, etc., etc 13.24 

So that this ochre will furnish more than 
enough oxide of iron for the slag, and will there- 
fore increase the run of iron. 

I add a few of Dr. Lesley's general conclusions 
as to the quality, quantity, uses and value of these 
ores. 

' ' The quality of ore, although various and suit- 
ed to at least two branches of the iron manufac- 
ture, is of the very first rate — none better in the 
world. 

" The soft ores will smelt easily and make mag- 
nificent iron ; absolutely the very best; perfectly 
malleable, tough and strong. 

' ' The hard ores will command a high price for 
puddlers' linings ; will be in demand for mixing 
with poorer ores of other regions," as are those 
of Canada and the Champlain ; ''and will have 
an especial value for the Siemens and the Besse- 
mer processes, and the steel manufacture gener- 
ally." 

*'The quantity of the ore is limitless." 

'' It would be the best policy to bring the ores 



COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 107 

to nature ou tlie spot. Small rharcoal blast fur- 
naces and groups of Catalan forges, are possible 
in a country so well provided with wood, and where 
any amount of labor can be got at the lowest 
price. The geology is all right ; the mineralogy 
is all right ; the region is a good one ; population 
numerous ; food plenty ; labor abundant and 
cheap ; railroads at hand." The range is crossed 
by two lines of railroad, and XDortions of it lie 
within 5 miles of a third. 

Another probable advantage is the proximity of 
the Dan River coal. Although no satisfactory ex- 
posures of this coal have been made, yet there 
are good reasons for believing that it is both 
abundant and of good quality, from some explo- 
rations recently made by'the North Carolina Centre 
Iron and Mining Company, about Stokesburg, 
and from the results of the trial of the coal from 
the shaft near Leaksville, during the late war. 

The views of Dr. Lesley have been presented at 
some length, not only because, being from an- 
other State, and that a large iron manufacturing- 
State, his opinions may be supposed to be given 
without bias, but chiefly because of his eminence 
as a geologist, and especially as the highest au- 
thority in this country in everything connected 
with the geology, mineralogy and metallurgy of 
iron. 

Any one who has the least knowledge of the 
present drift of the iron industry of the world, 
and of the controlling importance of high grade 
ores, is prepared to realize the immense value of 
such deposits as those just described in Guilford 
and in Harnett, Chatham, Orange and Halifax. 
For the manufacture of the common qualities of 
iron, England has unequaled advantages in her 



108 COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

wonderful Cleveland beds of fossil ore, and her 
clay iron stones and blaclv band ores, mined in 
unlimited quantities from the same pit Avith the 
coal by which it is smelted. But for ores of the 
better class, adapted to the Bessemer and other 
processes of steel-making, and for the better kinds 
of iron, England is confessedly dependent, in a large 
measure, on other countries. Her principal do- 
mestic resource is the Cumberland red hematites. 
And nothing could be more precarious than the 
supply from this source. This hematite is com- 
pact and mammillary, of a brick-red color, and 
occurs in pockets and irregular masses, of the 
most uncertain forms, distribution and magni- 
tude. In fact the masses are simply the fillings 
of cavities of the most irregular and lawless 
shapes and forms which had been dissolved out of 
the paleozoic limestones in which these ores occur. 
So that each mass or pocket has to be sought for 
and mined independently. And but for the in- 
troduction of the American Diamond Drill, it is 
difficult to understand how profitable mining could 
be carried on, after the exhaustion of the com- 
paratively few masses which happen to make an 
outcrop. These ores are of very fine quality and 
commanded the remarkably high price of $9.00 a 
ton at the pit' s mouth at the time of my visit in 
1873. And the largest heaps of ore to be seen at 
the furnaces of Scotland and England, where 
malleable iron or steel is made, are Spanish red 
hematites, to procure which English capital has 
penetrated by rail a hundred miles from the coast, 
into the province of Bilboa. I happened also^ to 
hear of a transaction of the day before, by which 
a Scotch firm contracted for three millions of 
tons of the famous hematites of the island of 



COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 109 

Elba, so popular with the old Romans, twenty- 
centuries ago. And it is well known that En- 
glish capitalists and iron associations are sending 
their experts and foremost iron manufacturers to 
investigate the iron resources of this countrj^ 
The ores which fix the attention of these expe- 
rienced scientific and practical Englishmen, are 
chiefly of the class under consideration, — the bet- 
ter class of iron and steel ores, — the Marquette 
region, the Iron Mountain, etc. It is only neces- 
sary that the numerous deposits of such ores in 
this State become known. If we could have a full 
report (such as the above) by Dr. Lesleys, on each 
one of half a dozen iron ore ranges in the State, 
capital would not be long in finding a way to 
utilize them. 

This Guilford range of ores has not been traced 
to its termination in either direction, and doubt- 
less other valuable beds will be discovered ; and 
there are already indications that there are out- 
crops of the same kind of ore as far northeast as 
Caswell County, some very fine specimens of mag- 
netite having been brought to the Museum from 
that county. 

There are also other iron ore localities in Rock- 
ingham, which do not belong to this range ; for ex- 
ample, near the Virginia line, in a northeast direc- 
tion from Madison ; and again two miles below 
the mouth of Smith' s River, (Morehead's Factory), 
there is a bed of red hematite iron ore, about ten 
inches thick at the outcrop. It is very dense, 
heavy and hard, uncrystalline, and almost 
jaspery, and is no doubt a good ore, judging from 
its appearance. 

Iron Ores of Mecklenburg and Cabarrus. — 
]f^^o iron mines of any extent have been worked 



110 COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

in these counties, but ore has been found in a 
number of localities. Hand s]3ecimens of mag- 
netic ore of great purity are frequently brought 
to the Museum, and a systematic search would no 
doubt reveal workable beds. Fragments of a 
very heavy, black metallic ore are found in con- 
siderable quantities on the farm of Mr. Geo. 
Phifer, three miles from Concord, and some little 
search was made during the war, but not enough 
to reach any satisfactory conclusion. A few 
trenches of one or two feet depth exposed only 
small seams of ore, but of the best quality. Some 
explorations were made also in the southern part 
of Mecklenburg at the same time, in the Sugar 
Creek neighborhood. Numerous blocks of a re 
markably pure granular magnetic ore were found 
scattered over several acres of surface of an old 
field, and along the public road ; and several 
trenches were cut, which exposed two or three 
veins of one to three and four feet thickness. Ade- 
quate search would no doubt bring to light still 
larger veins, judging from the size and number of 
the surface fragments. Some twelve or fifteen 
miles north of Charlotte, in the Hopewell neigh- 
borhood, a very notable quantity of surface frag- 
ments of large size are found in an old field and 
skirt of woods adjacent. This is a specular ore 
in a gangue of quartzite, not unlike the Chapel 
Hill Ore. No exposures of the vein, however, 
have ever been attempted. Specimens of a very 
fine micaceous hematite have been brought from 
the upper end of this county also, but no infor- 
mation of precise locality or extent. 

The ores of the southern end of this county 
and of Cabarrus are found in the syenite, so 
prevalent in the region. 



COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. Ill 

Iron Ores of Gaston^ Lincoln and Catawba. — 
In these counties is one of tlie most extensive ore 
ranges in the State. It is also the best known 
and best developed of them all, and has been the 
principal source of our domestic supplies of iron 
for a hundred years. Some of the furnaces of 
the region were put in blast during the Revolu- 
tionary war. The ores are predominantly mag- 
netic, with a variable percentage of hematite, and 
are found in the belt of talcose and quartzitic 
slates, (supposed Huronian), called elsewhere the 
King's Mountain slates. The direction of this 
range of ore beds is coincident with the strike of 
the slates, and is about IN". N. E. from King's 
Mountain on the southern border of the State, to 
Anderson Mountain, near the Catawba Eiver, in 
Catawba County. These ores are mostly of a 
very slaty structure, and friable. In fact they 
may be generally described as magnetic and 
specular schists, being talcose, chloritic, quartz- 
itic or actinolitic schists impregnated with granu- 
lar magnetite and hematite (itabirite). These beds 
have a westerly dip, with the rock strata, at a 
very high angle, usually nearly vertical. The 
general range of the beds is accompanied and in- 
dicated by a line of quartzose slaty ridges, or 
knobs, the quartzite lying usually to the west of 
the ore-beds, but occasionally on the east and 
sometimes on both sides. To Mr. G. B. Hanna, 
who has lately made an examination of many of 
the beds for the Survey, I am indebted for several 
valuable observations. He states that for a con- 
siderable part of the range there are two parallel 
beds, the more westerly being generally the larger 
and more productive, their thickness running from 
4 feet (and sometimes as low as 2 feet) to 12 ; the 



112 COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

interval of 12 to 20 feet between tlieni being oc- 
cnpied by talcose and cliloritic slates, with a little 
ore in layers. The beds generally occnr in lentic- 
ular masses, or flattish disks, which thicken at 
the middle and thin ont toward the edges, having 
nearly the same dip with the bed ; bnt they do 
not succeed each other in one plane, their edges 
overlapping so as to throw the upper edge of the 
lower behind the lower edge of the upper. The 
ore has been generally mined in a very rude and 
wasteful fashion, the oj)erations seldom iDenetrat- 
ing beyond water-level, 50 or 60 feet, and gener- 
ally limited to surface openings. The range nat- 
urally divides itself into two groups of beds, the 
northern and the southern, the one lying mostly 
in Lincoln, and the other in Gaston. The most 
considerable of the Lincoln beds and the one 
which has been longest and most extensively 
wrought is known as the Big Ore Bank. This is 
situated 7 or 8 miles north of the C. C. Railroad, 
and, as is usual with the outcrops of these beds, 
is on a hill or broad ridge. There are several beds 
evident, but the scattered and partially filled 
openings do not furnish the means of arriving at 
a satisfactory notion of their exact relations. 
The quantity of ore, however, seems to be very 
great, the thickness of the beds at some places 
being estimated at about 18 feet. The surface of 
the hill is still covered with a coarse dark mag- 
netic gravel, after all the large fragments have been 
emoved, and several crops of the gravel also as 
they Aveather out in succession. Several furnaces 
and a number of forges have been supplied with 
ore from this point for a long period. Following 
the compass course of the outcrops, about N. 20° 
E. , a succession of ore beds is encountered at in- 



COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 113 

tervals of one or two miles, to tlie soutlieastern 
base of Anderson Mountain, — tlie Brevard Ore 
Bank, the Robinson Ore Bank, the Morrison Ore 
Bank, which last extends into Catawba county. 
The latter of these was not much opened until 
the late war, when the Stonewall furnace was 
erected in the neighborhood, and a considerable 
quantity of iron manufactured. The thickness 
of the beds is given by Mr. Planna in the general 
statement quoted above, as ranging from 4 to 12 
feet. The quality of iron manufactured from this 
range of ore beds has always been good ; and all 
the furnaces on this part of the range were put 
in blast after the war, for the purpose of supply- 
ing a high grade charcoal-iron for the northern 
market. 

Limestone for fluxing is found convenient, in 
the range of beds which accompanies these slates, . 
one to two miles to the west, from King' s Moun- 
tain to a point several miles beyond Anderson 
Mountain. 

A few miles northwest of the last named moun- 
tain is a bed of limonite 5 or 6 feet thick, which 
was opened during the war, and furnished ore for 
a Catalan forge erected on a small stream near by. 

Several miles further, in a north-westerly 
course, — 7 miles south-west of Newton, there is 
a series of ore deposits, known as the Forney Ore 
Bank, whose mineralogical character and geo- 
logical relations are entirely different from those 
of the ore-beds of Lincoln County. They occur 
in the syenitic belt which will be noted on the 
map, as lying in a narrow zone of 3 to 5 miles, 
parallel to the slate belt, across these counties, 
from the great bend of the Catawba River nearly 
to S. C. The ore is a remarkably pure magnetite, 
8 



114 COAL AT^D IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

heavy, black, metallic and non granular, for tlie 
most x^art. It occurs in irregular masses, — 
pocJcets, which seem to be scattered very dis- 
orderly through the massive syenitic rock. So 
that the proper way to seek for it is by the 
miner' s compass. The iron manufactured from it 
in the forges of the neighborhood, particularly at 
Williams', was in much request before and dur- 
ing the war, being very malleable, tough and 
strong. All the blooms which could be iprocured 
at the naval works in Charlotte during the war 
were used for the manufacture of shafts for iron- 
clads and bolts for the cannon of the coast forts. 
At a point 6 or 7 miles north-easterly from this, 
is the Barringer Ore Bank, which is some two 
miles southeast from Newton. This ore is of the 
same character and geological relationships as 
the last. Some of the ore is more granular and 
it is occasionally disseminated in grains in a light 
colored, grani'^ic gangue. Several thousand tons 
of ore were mined here during the war. The 
openings which extend in a double line about 100 
yards, did not penetrate more than 15 to 20 feet ; 
so that no xoropor development of the deposit has 
been made. The vein is apparently nearly verti- 
cal, but was not sufficiently exposed at any point, 
on account of the filling uj) of the pits, to give an 
opportunity for measurements of size or dip. 
But the ore is of the best quality ; and the dis- 
tance from railroad is only about 2 miles. There 
is also another deposit in Lincoln County which 
does not belong to the series of beds above de- 
scribed. It lies about two miles east of Lincoln- 
ton on the plank road, and is traceable some hun- 
dreds of yards through the forests by the surface 
fragments, which are widely scattered. The ore 



COAL AND lEON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 115 

is limonite. No exposures of the deT)osit liave 
ever been made, but the quantity must be con- 
siderable. Magnetic ore, no doubt belonging to 
the regular ranges of ore-beds, is found at other 
points in this county, notably on Major Graham's 
place, 4 or 5 miles north of the railroad, but no 
mining has been done here. 

The lower part of the great iron range under 
consideration is mostly found in the southern 
half of Gaston, as the upper was mainly limited 
to the northern part of Lincoln. The ore-beds 
which have been opened and wrought ai^e all 
found south of the South Fork of Catawba, and 
of its principal tributary, Long Creek, in the 
neighborhood of King' s Mountain and its spurs, 
and affiliated ridges. The rocks here are the 
same body of slates, — talcose, argillaceous, 
quartzitic (itacolumite of Lieber), which carry the 
ores of Lincoln. And the most prominent ore- 
beds of the King's Mountain region are of the 
same character as those of the same range already 
described, — granular, slaty, but with a larger ad- 
mixture of hematite, and so having a decidedly 
red streak. These ore-beds appear to constitute 
a double parallel range, the divisions much more 
widely separated than in Lincoln. The Yellow 
Ridge Ore Bank, on the most southerly outcroj), 
at the western base of King's Mountain seems to 
belong to eastern division. The bed here, which 
has been extensively wrought, and was penetrated 
to a depth of 1 20 feet, is reported by Mr. Hanna 
and others to be 16 feet thick (occasionally 40), 
with a steep westerly dip. Hanna says of the ore, 
"it is notably magnetic but more highly peroxi- 
dized than that class of 'gray ores' generally." 
It is finely disseminated in a talcose gangue, be- 



116 COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

ing strikingly like tlie ores of Lincoln County. 
At the western base of Crowder's Mountain, in a 
northeasterly course, on tliis range, is the Fulen- 
wider ore-bed, on the headwaters of Crowder's 
Creek, and near the forge ; and still further in 
the same direction Mr. Hanna speaks of a field 
which is covered thickly with fragments of ore, 
although no bed has been exposed. 

There is also a notable succession of parallel 
beds of magnetiferous arenaceous slates in a 
nearly vertical position and with a northeast 
strike, on the summit of Crowder's Mountain. 

The following analyses of several samples of 
these Crowder Mountain ores have been furnished 
by Hanna : 

42 43 44 45 

Silica,* 11 02 23 14 9 27 2 58 

Peroxide of Iron, 72 00 58 36 75 17 84 53 

Protoxide of Iron, 2 03 5 40 2 68 1 30 

Sulphide of Iron, 09 12 20 02 

Sulphuric Acid 02 12 01 01 

Phosphoric Acid, 05 trace 02 07 

Loss by heating, 1 65 2 78 4 02 11 88 

Metallic Iron, 52 02 45 13 54 80 59 29 

These analyses show a h'gh grade of purity. 
No. 42 is from the slaty beds of the Pinnacle. 

There are other beds or veins of iron ore on the 
east side of Crowder's Mountain, one of which, 
about a mile distant, a friend reports having 
traced two miles by its outcrops ; but no open- 
ings have been made here. 

There are three notable ore-beds on the western 
division of this part of the range, on the lands 

*And a small percentage of Titanic Acid. 



COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 117 

known as the " Higli Shoals." They are the 
Ferguson^ the Ellison and the Costnerox^ banks. 
The first is the most southerly. It is a granular 
magnetic ore, with much iron pyrites, which has 
been superficially changed to limonite. This bed 
has been long worked, but the sulphur has always 
lowered, more or less, the quality of the iron made 
from it. The Ellison ore bank is about a mile 
northeasterly on the range. This has been worked 
for a great while, and has furnished an immense 
amount of ore. Its quality is very high. 

The heavy iron castings for the Rolling Mills 
at High Shoals were made from the furnace 
hearth, and, after seven years use, show scarcely 
a sign of wear ; and car wheels made of this iron 
were very extensively used during the late war, 
and were found by all the railroads which used 
them, "equal to the best manufactured from the 
Salisbury iron," as testified by the Superinten- 
dents and other ofiicers of the most important 
lines, on some of which "as many as 2,000 car 
wheels, made principally from this iron, were in 
use ' ' at one time. ' ' In castings where strength 
and durability are specially required," it is pro- 
nounced by several of those ofiicers most familiar 
with it, as "having no superior." This ore is a 
slaty granular magnetite, with much hematite, 
and generally has a very red streak. The slate 
contains actinolite, as well as some chlorite and 
talc. The bed has the strike of the inclosing 
slates, N. 20° E., and a steep westerly dip, nearly 
vertical, and a thickness of twelve to eighteen 
feet ; it has been worked to a depth of more than 
100 feet, and at this level is eighteen feet thick. 

The Costner Ore BanTc is about three miles in a 
northerly course, on the same line, and one mile 



118 COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

east of the furnace ("Long Creek''). This has 
more of the seeming of a vein, from its associations 
and general character. The rock is granitic and 
syenitic, and one wall is a bed of crystalline lime 
stone, twelve feet thick. The ore is a very dense, 
metallic and subcrystalline magnetite, and is very 
free from impurities, as will be seen from the 
analysis below ; and the bar iron made from it is 
very tough and strong. The vein is ten to twelve 
feet thick ; and it is reported by the miners who 
last pBuetrated it, at a depth of over 100 feet, to 
be above twenty feet tliick. 

There are two other im]3ortant ore beds on this 
tract, — "High Shoals," but they do not belong to 
the regular range of ore beds which we have been 
considering, being out of their line to the west, 
and of a very different character. The ore nearest 
to the line of the deposits last described is the 
Mountain Ore Bmik. It is on a high ridge, or 
mountain spur, (Whetstone Mountain) 2 or 300 
feet above the level of the general level, and some 
two miles west of the Ferguson Ore Bank. It is 
a regular vein of limonite, fibrous, radiated, mam- 
millary and cellular ; a portion of it a dirty bluish- 
black, earthy mass, with a disposition to break 
out in small angular fragments, — evidently man- 
ganiferous and derived by decomposition from the 
carbonate of iron. The vein is four to eight feet 
thick, associated with a heavy quartz vein, in a 
quartzo-argillaceous slate, and has a strike N. 35° 
E., and which does not vary more than 1° to 5 
from the vertical (towards the west). It is re- 
markably pure and will no doubt become valuable 
in the manufacture of Spiegeleisen. The second 
vein, the Ormond Ore BanJi^ is in the slate belt 
also, and is probabh^ a vein, (no exposures of it 



COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 119 

were visible on account of the filling up of the 
pits). It has been worked quite extensively be- 
fore and during the late w^ar ; and the iron has a 
high reputation in the region. It is specially pre- 
ferred for wagon tires, and is said to outlast those 
made from any other iron. The vein is reported 
to be 8 to 15 feet thick. The strike is N. 35° E. 
The ore is fine granular, of a dirty brownish-red 
color, and much of it is friable and easily falls to 
powder. This ore is manganiferous like the last, 
and is a hematite, which is partly hydrated and 
limonitic, (turgite ?) 

The following analyses, by Dr. Genth, will show 
the high character of these ores : 

46 47 48 49 50 

Magnetic Oxide of Iron 93 18 69 64 82 14 86 66 88 56 

Sesquioxide of Iron 4 30 

Oxide of Manganese.... 28 53 5 12 5 17 

Alumina 44 96 

Magnesia 2 23 1 30 27 30 

Lime 35 25 37 

Silica and Actinolite.... 4 34 23 80 4 47 142 84 

Water 18 12 86 6 28 4 76 

Iron 66 75 53 44 57 50 60 66 61 99 

Dr. G. adds : ''These ores contain neither sul- 
phur nor phosphorus.'' 'No. 49 contains a trace 
of cobalt. No. 42 is the Costner ore ; No. 43 the 
Ellison ; Nos. 48 and 49 represent the fibrous 
limonite, and " manganiferous limonite, resulting 
from the decomposition of siderite," of the Moun- 
tain Mine ; and No. 50 is the Ormond ore. 

There are five furnaces on this range of ores, 
one on the High Shoals tract, — the southern part 
of it, and four on the northern. One of these has 
been in operation betAveen 90 and 100 years, the 
others 80, 60 and less, down to 12 years for the 



120 COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

last and most northern, — the Stonewall, at the 
base of Anderson Mountain, built during the war. 
These are all charcoal- furnaces, of a capacity 
ranging from 3 to 6 tons. And there are many 
Catalan forges, both in these and the adjoining- 
counties, which have long supplied the local mar- 
ket, and with a much better quality of iron than 
could be gotten in the general iron market of the 
country. The belt of limestone, which forms an 
unfailing term of the King's Mountain slates 
through their course, lying generally about a mile 
west of the iron ore-beds, and the abundance of 
timber and water power have furnished the most 
favorable conditions for the cheap production of 
good iron. And the itacolumitic sandstone of the 
series furnishes excellent material for hearths, a 
' ' tires tone ' ' much superior in durability to any 
fire bricks procurable. 

Iron Ores of Yadhin^ Surry and Stokes. — The 
ores of this region occupy a relation to the Pilot 
and Sauratown Mts. similar to that of the Gaston 
and Lincoln ores to the King' s Mountain range. 
They are found along the base and among the 
spurs and foot hills of the range. And like them 
too, these deposits divide themselves into two 
groups, geographically, one in Stokes and the 
other in Surry and Yadkin. They are all mag- 
netic and granular, but differ, in the two groups, 
in their mode of occurrence. In the latter case 
the ore is disseminated in grains, for the most 
part through mica slates and gneiss rocks, and the 
earthy and rocky matter often bears a large pro- 
portion to the ore and requires to be separated by 
stamping and washing before it is sufficiently con- 
centrated for the forge. The rock is generally de- 
composed to a great depth and the grains of ore 



COAL AND IRON OF NOETH CAEOLINA. 121 

are easily separated by very rude and cheap 
means. The ore-beds of this group have been 
long known, and have been used to some extent 
as a source of local supply of iron. They were 
described by Dr. Mitchell in 1842, as follows : 
''There is a series of beds extending in a north- 
easterly and southwesterly direction from the 
Virginia line to the Yadkin River. There are also 
some beds on the south side of the river." An 
example of this magnetiferous gneiss, and of the 
mode of occurrence and the method of mining, 
concentrating and reducing the ore is seen on 
Tom's Creek, in Surry county, a few miles north- 
east of the Pilot Mountain. The decomposed 
gneiss of the ore-bed has little appearance of an 
iron ore, and is in fact distinguishable mainly by 
its superior weight, the grains of magnetite 
merely replacing, in varying proportions, the mica 
and hornblende of the rock. And consequently the 
beds are not defined at all ; the rock is worked in 
any direction where it is found to pay, and the 
excavations are made in the most irregular and 
undefinable fashion. 

Another ore-bed and two forges (Hyatt's), are 
found on the west side of Ararat River, near the 
mouth of Bull Run Creek. This ore- bed is nearly 
west of the Pilot, in a light- colored slaty gneis- 
soid sandstone. A third ore-bed, which has been 
worked for many years, known as Williams' , is 
four miles northwest of Rockford. The rock is a 
hornblendic gneiss, and the mode of occurrence 
of the ore is very much as on Tom's Creek, but it 
is more disposed to gather into bunches and pock- 
ets and solid masses. The iron made from the 
ores of Surry has a good reputation in the region ; 
they are ax3parently very pure. On the south 



122 COAL AND lEON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

side of the river, there is a series of ore-beds run- 
ning from the river in a southwesterly course to 
Deep Creek, nearly across the county of Yadkin. 
There are a number of mines here, the most noted 
of which are the Hohson Mines. The ores are 
very much like those on Tom's Creek, but the 
beds are better defined, and the ore more concen- 
trated in definite strata. The analysis below, by 
Dr. Genth, will show the character of the ores of 
this county ; 

51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 

Mag. Oxide of Iron 93.61 55.87 56.13 71.68 74.48 87.39 70.61 79 75 

Ox. Man 0.11 0.86 trace trace 0.04 trace 0.48 0.81 

Oxide of Copper 0.10 0.09 0.05 0.10 0.04 0.09 0.15 0.13 

Alumina 0.20 0.45 1.88 2.46 0.98 0.75 0.66 1.20 

Magnesia 0.86 1.94 0.19 0.10 0.25 0.77 0.90 0.98 

Lime 0.45 3.14 0.36 0.57 0.60 0.70 134 0.82 

Silica, Actinolite, Epidote, etc... 4.62 37.24 40.60 24.62 23.16 10.83 24.28 14.46 

Phosphoric Acid 0.05 0.05 trace trace trace 0.09 0.12 0.10 

Sulphur 0.02 trace trace trace 

Water, etc 0.34 0.79 0.57 0.45 0.38 1.46 1.75 

67.79 40.46 40.65 51.83 53.93 62.55 51.13 57.75 

The Hobson ores, several beds, are represented 
by Nos. 53, 54 and 57. These ores have been used 
in the forges of the neighborhood for many years. 
The ore-beds are in the northern part of the 
county, but others are found southward of them, 
and are represented by the other analyses ; and 
the ores have also been used in the blomaries of 
the neighborhood for a long while. The other 
beds represented in the table are the Sand Bank 
(51), Black Bank (52), Hutchins' {m\ Upper 
Bank (56), and Shields' (58). At East Bend also 
is an outcrop of magnetic ore, w^hich is coarse, 
granular, and more free of rocky matter than 
most of the other deposits ; but it has not been 
operated.. 

This range of ore-beds extends southward across 
the South Fork of Yadkin River into Davie 



COAL AND lEON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 123 

County, wliere the ore still preserves the same 
characteristics as in the above mentioned Coun- 
ties, but of the extent of the beds and their dis- 
tribution, I have no definite information. 

The northern or Stokes group of the range lies 
on the east, (north) side of Dan River, and with- 
in 2 and 3 miles of Danbury. These are collected 
for the most part in a group of parallel beds in a 
dark to black and greenish-black micaceous and 
hornblendic gneiss, the beds being very well de- 
fined, and the ore concentrated in certain definite 
strata, and in the case of the Rogers Ore Bank, 
it is aggregated into considerable masses of pure 
granular ore, of very coarse grain. This bed is 8 
feet thick and has been worked on a considerable 
scale ; and an excellent iron was smelted in the 
furnaces at Danbury during the war. Another 
bed reported to be ten feet thick has been opened 
about half a mile east of the last, and two beds, 
(one of them 4 feet thick, the other not opened), 
have been discovered at different times within SOO 
and 600 yards of it, on the west. The ores are all 
magnetites, with sometimes a small admixture of 
hematite. The folowing Analyses are by Dr. 
Genth : 

59 60 61 62 

Oxides of Iron, 92,47 85.09 79.71 67.66 

Oxide of Manganese, . . trace trace trace trace 

Alumina trace 0.70 2.27 0.17 

Magnesia 0.20 0. 16 0. 17 .23 

Lime, 0.13 0.29 0.81 0.19 

Phosphoric Acid, 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 

Actinolite, &c., 7.20 13.76 15.66 31.75 

Water. 1.88 



Metallic Iron, ... . 65.34 61.74 57.13 49.03 

The purity of these ores is conspicuous. Phos- 



124 COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

phoms is wholly wanting. Some samples contain 
a small percentage of pyrites. Manganese ap- 
pears as only 2^trace in the analyses, bnt it mnst 
exist in larger proportions in some parts of the 
bed, as spiegeleisen is occasionally an accidental 
product. The above specimens of ore are all 
from the Rogers Ore Bank. There is also a small 
outcrop of limonite in the vicinity of the Rogers 
bed, of which Dr. Genth' s analysis gives the per- 
oxide as 31.36 per cent.; i3hosphoric acid 0.44. 
There are other outcrops of magnetic ore in the 
county, a notable one on the south side of the 
Sauratown Mountains, among the head waters 
of Town Fork of Dan River. It is evident that 
here is an important iron ran '2 e which must be- 
come a centre of manufacture for the higher 
grades of charcoal iron whenever transportation 
shall have been provided, either by railroad or 
by the opening of the navigation of the Dan, 
which is very feasible. The proximity of the 
Dan River coal beds is another advantage, which 
may prove of the highest importance, whenever 
these beds shall be opened. 

There are in the Museum several very fine speci- 
mens of magnetic ore and micaceous hematite, 
from (Forsyth County,) the neighborhood of Sa- 
lem, south and west, which make it probable 
that there are valuable ore deposits in that sec- 
tion ; but no definite information of their extent 
is in hand. 

Iron Ores of BurJce, Caldwell, etc. There are 
many valuable beds of limonite in a range extend- 
ing in a northeast direction from the northeastern 
foothills of the South Mountains into the Brushy 
Mountains, — from Jacob's Fork of Catawba River, 
near the eastern border of Burke, across the Ga- 



COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 125 

tawba, and by way of Gunpowder Creek, to the 
waters of Middle Little River near the eastern 
border of Caldwell ; and beyond, near Rocky 
Creek, in Alexander, and even on the northern 
slopes of the Brushy Mountains in Wilkes, the 
same ores occur, being undistinguishable in ap- 
pearance, and of identical lithological relations. 
These ores are associated with the peculiar kyan- 
itic hydro-mica schists, and purplish paragonite 
schists, which characterize the region. 

There is a bed near the^town of Hickory, report- 
ed to be 5 or 6 feet thick ; and 3 miles west, at 
Probst's, are a number of pits, from which a 
quantity of ore was obtained during the war ; and 
at the distance of 6 miles, on the lands of Mrs. 
Townsend,. a bed was opened some thirty years 
ago, and the ore, inconsiderable quantities, smelt- 
ed in the Shuford furnace in the neighborhood. 
The beds are not exposed in either of these cases, 
the pits being filled up. The ore was mixed with 
the magnetite obtained from the Barringer Mine 
near ISTewton (already referred to), and the iron so 
made is reported to have been of good quality. 

Iron was also made on Gunpowder Creek, Cald- 
well County, 30 or 40 years ago, from a similar 
series of limonite beds. The quantity of ore is re- 
ported as large. The beds on Middle Little River, 
12 miles southeast of Lenoir, were worked nearly 
50 years ago, and the ore hauled 7 miles to Beard' s 
furnace, on the Catawba River. The outcrops 
are traceable on the slopes of Mclntyre's Moun- 
tain and Bald Mountain, near Mr. White's on 
Miry Branch, for a distance of 2 to 3 miles, the 
OLitcrop on the former being about 3 or 4 feet, and 
on the latter 8 or 10 ; and it is reported that at 
some points the thickness is more than double 



126 COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

the above figure. There is every surface evidence 
of abundance of ore. Being a mountainous re- 
gion, timber for fuel is abundant, and water power 
also; and the proximity of magnetites and hema- 
tites, to be presently mentioned, completes a very 
favorable combination of circumstances for the 
establishment of iron manufactures. 

Specimens of magnetic ore are of frequent oc- 
currence in Burke County, and the western part 
of Catawba, of which there are several very fine 
examplesin the Museum,— sent, one from a point 
near Hickory, and another from near Morganton, 
etc., but nothing is known to me of the quantity 
or special mode of occurrence. On Steele' s Creek 
also in the northwestern part of Burke County, 
there is an outcrop of magnetic and hematite ore of 
the best quality. The bed or vein has not been ex- 
posed, and the quantity cannot be safely conjec- 
tured. It occurs on a spur of Brown Mountain 
on the land of Mr. Estes. Limonite also occurs 
in Brindletown, among the spurs of the South 
Mountains. 

A bed of superior magnetic ore occurs on 
Warrior Creek, not far from Patterson, Cald- 
well county, and within a mile of the bend of the 
Yadkin River. It is traceable hundreds of yards 
by large surface fragments of a fine grained heavy 
metallic ore, remarkably free from rocky admix- 
tures ; and a similar ore is reported as occurring 
in large mass a few miles west on Mulberry Creek. 
Another very fine ore, a shining metallic, slaty 
hematite, of great purity, is found a few miles 
above on the spurs of the Blue Ridge, flanking 
the Yadkin River, in a cove known as Richlands. 
The smooth faces of the slaty masses of ore, as 
well as of the walling slates, are sprinkled quite 

f . 



COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 127 

thickly with small shining octahedral crystals of 
magnetite, many of which have been converted 
into hematite, constituting a fine example of 
martite schist. The bed at this point oiitcroj)s 
only a few inches in thickness, among the thin 
bedded and shaly, argillaceous and arenaceous 
micaceous slates of Linville, which show them- 
selves in force along the flanks of the Blue Ridge 
in this section. The analysis of this ore, by 
Hanna, is as follows: 

63 

Sesquioxide of Iron 96 14 

Sulphide of Iron 08 

Sulphuric Acid 01 

Phosphoric Acid 00 

Manganese trace 

Silica 2 25 

Alumina 87 

Water, etc 85 

Metallic Iron 67 32 

In the same neighborhood, on the farm of Mr. 
J. Curtis, on the banks of the Yadkin River, 7 
or 8 miles above Patterson, is a heavy ledge of 
titaniferous iron ore in a massive, granular, talco- 
chloritic gneiss of a light greenish-gray color. 
The ledge is exposed in a cliff rising sheer out the 
river, and again in the steep face of a hill 150 
yards distant. The exposure is not less than 12 
to 15 feet thick, and the surface is covered with 
heaps of angular fragments of all sizes, up to a 
hundred pounds or more. The bed also contains 
a small proportion of a sesquioxide of chromium, 
amounting, according to Hanna, to 0.10 per cent. 

Some 10 or 12 miles northeast of this point, on 
the flanks of the Blue Ridge, near Cook's Gap, 



128 COAL AND IRON OF NOETH CAROLINA. 

in the edge of Watauga county, occurs another 
outcrop of the specular (martite) schist of Rich- 
lands. The bed at this locality, which is called 
Bull Ruffin, is reported to be 3 to 4 feet thick at 
the outcrop, and the neighboring and enclosing 
rocks, granular quartzose schists and other char- 
acteristic schists and slates of the Linville belt 
are often impregnated, as well as the ore schist 
itself, with fine to coarse crystals of magnetite 
and martite. The ore so exactly resembles that at 
Richlands that it is impossible to distinguish 
them. There is also an outcrop of limonite near 
the same x)oint, of which the Museum contains a 
specimen, but I have no information of its extent. 
The quality of this ore is so high as to justify an 
exploration of this promising outcrop, and indeed 
of the whole range; which however does not stop at 
this point, but follows the line of the Blue Ridge 
for a distance of 75 miles, showing itself in the 
notable magnetiferous and martitic schists of 
Fisher's Peak, near the Virginia line, on the 
Surry- Alleghany border. 

In McDowell county there are several beds of 
limonite. These are mostly aggregated along the 
top of Linville Mountain, southern part, and the 
western slo]3e, near the foot, and in the spurs of 
the southern end. One of these ore-beds was 
worked by Mr. Conolly twenty-five or thirty years 
ago. Another bed, Fleming' s, was opened also, 
2 or 3 miles south of Linville, on the slope of 
Graveyard Mountain ; the thickness appeared to 
be 2 to 3 feet. These Linville limonites made an 
inferior iron when worked alone ; but mixed with 
the magnetites and hematites of the region, they 
would become available for the manufacture of 
good metal. There are ores of the last named 



COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 129 

species in the Linville River region, of which 
however, I have seen hand specimens only. 

The limestone beds of the same belt, in North 
Cove and along the flanks of Linville, are con- 
veniently located for furnishing a flux, and the 
forests of these mountains will furnish indefinite 
quantities of fuel. 

Ore Mountain, one mile west of Swannanoa 
Gap, (and therefore just over the Buncombe line), 
is named from the occurrence on its flanks of a 
bed of limonite, which doubtless belongs to the 
iron ore range of Linville. The bed is not well 
exposed, but 3 or 4 feet of thickness are visible 
on the steep escarpment, and large masses which 
have broken off, are fallen down to a lower point 
on the slope. 

Iron Ores of Mitchell and Ashe. — In Mitchell 
county is found one of the most remarkable iron- 
ore deposits in North America. It lies on the 
western slope of the Iron Mountain, (a part of 
the Great Smoky range), in the northeast corner 
of the county, 3 miles from the Tennessee line, 
about a mile from the rapid torrent of Elk River, 
the principal affluent of the Watauga. It has 
been long known as the Cranberry Ore Bank, 
from Cranberry Creek, which flows at the foot of 
the steep mountain spurs, on which it outcrops. 
The prevalent and characteristic rock of the 
mountains in this locality is hornblende slate and 
syenite, and it is on the northern margin of a 
mountainous ledge of such rocks, that the ore- 
bed occurs, gray gneisses and gneissoid slates 
coming in beyond in immediate succession and 
association, in part. 

The ore is a pure magnetite, massive and gener- 
ally coarse-granular, and exhibits strong polarity. 



130 COAL AND IRON" OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

It is associated witti pyroxene and epidote, in 
certain parts of the bed. The steep sloi^e of the 
mountain gorge and ridges which the bed occu- 
pies, are covered with blocks of ore, often of 
hundreds of pounds weight, and in many places 
bare vertical walls of massive ore, 10 and 15 feet 
thick, are exposed, and the trenches and oj)en 
diggings, which are scattered without order, over 
many acres of surface, every where reach the 
solid ore within a few feet of the surface. The 
length of the outcrop is about 1500 feet and the 
breadth 200 to 800. A large quantity of ore has 
been quarried and smelted here during the last 
two or three generations, but no mining has been 
done, the loose and partly decomx30sed and dis- 
integrated masses of ore and magnetic gravel 
mixed with the surface earth, having been pre- 
ferred by the ore diggers, as being more easily 
obtained, and much more readily stamped and 
granulated for the forge fire. The quality of the 
ore will best be seen by reference to the following 
analyses : 

64 65 66 67 68 

Magnetic Oxide of Iron. ... 94 37 91 45 85 59 80 77 91 89 

Oxide of Mauganese 26 06 24 1 42 32 

Alumiua 42 77 11 52 1 03 

Lime 43 1 01 72 106 

Magnesia 36 53 33 23 

Water 44 153 8 21* 1 15 

Silica, Pyroxene, etc 4 16 5 74 11 48 9 08 4 02 

Sulphur 25 

Phosphoric Acid trace 

100 00 100 00 100 00 100 00 99 95 
Metallic Iron 68 34 66 22 61 98 58 49 66 53 

The first four of these analyses are by Dr. 
Genth, who says " the first three samples contain 



COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 131 

neither titanic acid, nor phosphorus and sulphur ; 
the fourth contains a trace of x^hosphoricacid." 

No. 68 was made in 1869, by Prof. Chandler, of 
Columbia College, New York city, who remarks : 
'* This is the best iron ore I have ever analyzed. 
It is very rich in iron and very free from sulphur 
and phosphorus." The smiths and farmers of 
the region will use no other iron, if the Cranberry 
can be had, and they willingly pa^^ fifty per cent, 
more for it than any other in the market. The 
softness and toughness of this iron is very re- 
markable, and its tensile strength, as tested by 
the United States Ordnance Department, ranks 
with that of the best irons known. The blooms 
from the Cranberry forges have been extensively 
used in Baltimore for boiler iron, and command.ed 
fifteen dollars a ton above the market. In quality 
it is unsuri3assed by any iron in the world. And 
in regard to quantity, the bed much exceeds the 
great deposits of Missouri and Michigan, and at 
least equals anything in the Champlain region. 
So that it has not probably an equal in this coun- 
try. 

There are other magnetic ore-beds in the neigh- 
borhood of less extent. One is said to occur along 
the face of the same (Iron) mountain between one 
and two miles eastward ; and several others at the 
distance of six to ten miles in a southeast direc- 
tion. Northwestward also, beyond the State line 
and within a few miles of it, is a number of ore 
beds, mostly magnetic — one limonite ; indeed it 
is evident that there is an extensive range of iron 
ores in this region, which are of the highest 
quality, and must one day attract a large capital 
for their development. Deposits of ore are also 
found in other parts of the county ; but like the 



132 COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

last named, they are known only by tlieir out- 
crops. One of these is a bed of magnetite, on tlie 
lower slope of Little Yellow Mountain, at Flat 
Rock. The ore is quite like the Cranberry, of 
equal purity apparently, and strongly polaric. 
Some large blocks are found on the surface, 
weighing several hundred pounds, but no vein or 
bed of more than one or two feet, has been ex- 
posed by the slight effort at trenching recently 
made. Frequent specimens of menachanite are 
also found at the same locality. 

A bed of limonite occurs three or four miles 
northwest of Flat Rock, recognizable by a profu- 
sion of surface fragments, but no explorations 
have been made. On Rock Creek, beyond 
Bakersville, at the foot of the great Roan Moun- 
tain, are also several beds of magnetic ore, of 
which hand specimens resemble the Cranberry 
ore, and the geological associations are also the 
same. Of the size of the beds I have no definite 
information, except in regard to one near the 
mouth of Big Rock Creek, where a little trench- 
ing has been done, and a few small veins or beds 
of irregular shai)e, and one or two feet thickness, 
were touched. The rock is gneiss, syenite and 
dolerite, much decomposed superficially. Other 
larger deposits are said to exist near the head of 
the same stream. Near Bakersville, also, I have 
seen small outcrops of limonite. 

In Ashe county, in the northwest corner of the 
State, there are some important ore deposits, on 
the waters of North Fork of New River. They 
lie chiefly north and northeast of Jefferson, on 
Horse Creek, and Helton Creek. On the former 
creek there are two beds of ore, both coarse, gran- 
ular, highly magnetic and polaric, in gneiss and 



COAL AND lEON OF NORTH CAEOLINA. 133 

syenite. The gaiigue is largely pyroxene and 
epidote. One is on a higli mountainons ridge, 
some 500 feet above, and on the west side of the 
creek, and two miles from the river, at Hamp- 
ton' s ; the other on the east side, at Greybiir s. 
Both are traceable many rods by numerous sur- 
face fragments which indicate beds of consider- 
able extent. 

On Helton, six or eight miles east of the last, 
are still larger dei3osits, of very pure magnetic 
ore, which has been long used in the forges of the 
neighborhood. The ore is a coarse-grained and 
very pure magnetite, one ot the beds of which is 
reported to be eighteen feet in thickness and 
another nine feet. This is manifestly an iron 
region, and worthy of a thorough "^investiga- 
tion. 

There are many other localities in this region 
from which hand specimens have been brought to 
the Museum ; as for example. Cove Creek in Wa; 
tauga, which has furnished both magnetite and 
limonite, and the neighborhood of Flat Top 
Mountain, where a titaniferous ore is found. 

Iron Ores of the French Broad. — There are 
several localities on the western slopes of the 
Black Mountain, on the head waters of Ivy, in 
the eastern edge o± Madison, where magnetite is 
found in considerable surface masses, though no 
explorations have been made. A bed also ot ti- 
taniferous iron occurs here near the public road, 
and about midway between Asheville and Burns- 
ville. The prevalent rock of the region is gneiss, 
Avith much hornblende slate and syenite. There 
are many fragments of this ore of considerable 
size along the steexD slope of a mountain SDur. It 
is very hard, lustre resinous, color black, fracture 



134 COAL AND IKON OF NOKTH CAROLINA. 

snbconclioidaL The analysis is as follows 
(Hanna) : 

Titanic Acid 37.88 

Protoxide of Iron 37.06 

Sesquioxide 11.03 

Sesquioxide of Manganese ... 0.89 

Alumina 9.51 

Lime 2.57 

Magnesia 0.93 

Sulphur 0.09 

Phosphoric Acid trace 

Water 0.15 

Silica 0.83 

100.94 

On Bear Creek below Marshall, near the French 
Broad, there are surface fragments of magnetite 
in hornblende slate, bat no vein or bed has been 
exposed. On the eastern fork of Big Laurel 
there is a large outcrop of a slaty granular mag- 
netite at Mrs. Norton's, and near Jewel Hill a bed 
or vein of specular hematite in a reddish felspath- 
ic gneiss, the ore said to be abundant. About 5 
miles west of Asheville a bed of limonite of several 
feet thickness has been opened. There are hand 
specimens of magnetic ore in the Museum, brought 
from the eastern part of Buncombe county, but 
no outcrop has been reported to me. There is a 
range of limonite ore-beds associated with the 
limestones of this county, which follow them 
from Cane Creek across and up the French 
Broad into Transylvania. 

In Haywood county, there is a large massive 
outcrop of granular magnetite ; it is in the north- 
eastern part of the county on Wilkins' Creek. 
The bed is no doubt large, from the boldness of 
the outcrop, which projects in large masses above 
the surface. 



COAL AND IKON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 135 

There are also magnetites and hematites in va- 
rious localities of Jackson and Macon counties, 
some of which are represented in the Museum by 
very fine specimens, and the deposits are report- 
ed to be extensive, but as no iron has been made 
in those counties, there has been no occasion for 
their development. 

Iron Ores of CJieroTcee. — There is no other 
county in the State which contains so much iron 
ore as Cherokee. It is all, however, of one species, 
limonite. The marble beds of Valley River and 
Notteley River are everywhere accompanied by 
beds of" this ore. There seem to be generally 2, 
3 and 4 parallel beds of it, one or two of which 
are frequently slaty and micaceous, — a limonitic 
mica slate, and the others cellular concretionary, 
etc., and (the most western, generally) ochreous. 
The breadth of this iron and marble range is 2 to 
more than 3 miles. The trough which has been 
scooped out by the rivers, in a northeasterly and 
southwesterly direction, owes its existence to the 
destructible beds of limestone, and their asscjciat- 
ed soft mica-schists and hydro mica slates and 
shales, which occupy this tract. The direct val- 
ley range is about 24 miles in length ; and three 
is bifurcation of it, at a point 6 or 8 miles above 
Murphy, one branch pursuing a more southerly 
course, by way of Peachtree Creek and Brasstown 
Creek, making the whole iron range of the coun- 
ty above 30 miles. 

The most common and characteristic terms of 
the series, in cross section, are, counting from the 
northwest, slaty gneiss and mica schist, limonite, 
steatite, marble, limonite, slaty quartzite, slaty 
limonite, mica-schist and siaty gneiss. 

At several points there are two or three redupli- 



136 COAL AND IRON OF NOETH CAROLINA. 

cations of the marble, and there are commonly in- 
tercalations of mica schists and hydro-mica slates 
between the different terms of the series. The 
section at Valleytown shows two parallel beds of 
limonite on the sloi3e of the mountains to the 
south, these beds being sometim-es not more than 
100 to 200 yards apart ; the marble lies in the val- 
ley, and the slaty talc beds to the north side of 
the valley, and a bed of ochre north of that, out- 
cropping in Paint Creek, 6 to 10 feet wide. There 
are here two or three parallel beds of marble. 
Lower down, at the Parker Mine (gold), and 
across by the Taylor ;)lace, are, first, the 2 beds of 
limonite, some 200 yai\ls apart ; then the valley, 
with its marble and steatite, with an outcrop of 
limonite to the north. This is nearly half way be- 
tween Valleytown and Murphy. At Colbert' s, the 
quartzite ridge ax)pears with iron beds on both 
flanks. This is 6 to 7 miles above Murphy, where 
some rude mining has been done for iron ore quite 
recently, and much more and more systematic 
mining in ancient times, by no one knows whom 
or for what x3urpose. There are still visible shafts 
more than a hundred feet deep, which are said to 
have been approached by drifts, of which some 
signs of the entrance still remain. The marble 
here comes next the iron, to the northwest, and 
then the steatite. The latter appears of unusually 
fine quality in a large bed near by, at Mrs. Leath- 
erwood's. At Mrs. Hayes', the quartzite a23ijears 
with its northern bed of limonite, followed by the 
marble, talc and another bed of limonite. At sev- 
eral points between this and Murphy the same 
terms of the series are discoverable. About one 
mile north of Murphy the quartzite forms a high 
ridge, having the two beds of limonite, one on 



COAL AND lEON OF NORTH CAEOLINA. 137 

either flank, that on the northwest very fine and 
25 feet thick. From this point much ore has been 
obtained for the supply of the neighborhood 
forges, chiefly the one on Hanging Dog Creek. 
The iron was reputed of very good quality. 
Beyond this bed of ore in the same section, is the 
marble and talc of "No. 6." 

At one-half mile below Murphy there seem to 
be four limonite beds with a small outcrop of the 
quartzite, the marble occupying the middle 
term of the section. One of these beds 
may be seen in the streets of Murphy ; 
but half a mile below, are two outcrops, 
indicating the presence of immense quantities of 
ore. Taking the course of the Notteeley to the 
southwestward, the two limonite beds, with inter- 
vening quartzite, appear near the Ducktown road 
about 5 miles from Murphy, and there is a large 
outcrox') also at the bridge, 6 miles from Murphy. 
There is a large quarry of steatite within the 
same distance. Ascending the Hiwassee from 
Murphy, on the south bank, at the distance of 
about 2 miles, and after passing a heavy bed of 
slaty gneissoid quartzite, is a large bed of lim- 
onite ; and beyond this, other quartzose gneisses, 
much-veined ; then a second bed of the ore, after 
which come hydro-mica slates, and at 3 miles, 
(Martin' s), white marble. Half a mile beyond is 
a fine bed of limonite 10 to 12 feet thick, which 
has been worked to some extent, and a few hun- 
dred yards farther, is a bed of blue marble, 
which is reported to occur also on Brasstown 
Creek. The steatite does not show itself in this 
section, being concealed by superficial deposits, 
but in another section a little north (less than 2 
miles), it comes in as a brown spongy decomposed 



138 GOAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

massive talcose rock just west of Garrison's, the 
marble and iron ore appearing on both sides of it 
at Garrison' s, and west of the ledge ; this last 
being an ochreous bed, associated with qnartzite. 
Eastward of Garrison's, on this section, at 
Williams', the marble appears, and at Southard's, 
both marble and limonite ; and the marble and 
iron are reported as outcrop23ing again at Cole- 
man's, on Little Brasstown Creek, the marble 
here having a greater thickness than at any other 
point, many hundreds of feet. The last outcrop 
in this direction of the marble and limonite is 
near Peachtree Creek, between 7 and 8 miles from 
Murphy. So that here the beds must have 
suffered much and rax)id folding or faulting. 

These beds of ore are traceable northwards to 
within two miles of the Valley River beds near 
Mrs. Hayes' . The quantity of ore in this county 
is therefore immense, and very widely distributed, 
and the forests of the mountain slopes furnish 
unlimited supplies of fuel, while the marble is at 
hand everywhere for fluxing. The quality of 
the ore may be inferred from the following 
analysis by (Chatard for) Genth, of a large mass 
obtained from the open cut a mile north 
Murphy: 

Sesquioxide of Iron 85 69 

Silica 1 50 

Water 12 81 

Metallic Iron 59 98 

This completes the description of the North 
Carolina iron ores, as far as my investigations 
and inf onnation have gone. There remains much 
to do to complete the chapter ; there are many 



OOAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 139 

blanks to fill, and whole counties, of which little 
is known, except that they contain iron ores. 
My work has been necessarily limited to the study 
of such ore beds as have happened to be opened, 
and of course these are but a small proportion of 
the whole, in a region always wholly devoted to 
agriculture and studiously eschewing all sorts of 
manufacturing. 



Deep River Timber and Minerals. 



[ColoDbl Laidley's Report.]* 

North Carolina Arsenal, 

April 29, 1856. 

Colonel : Following out your suggestion made 
to me in December last, to visit the country of 
the Deep River, with a view of examining its ca- 
pability of furnishing timber for ordnance con- 
structions, I i)roceeded on the 15th instant to visit 
several of the best timbered localities that I could 
hear of in the counties of Moore, Chatham, and 
Randolph. This region of country is rich in 
mineral wealth, and its growing importance, and 
the proposition of establishing a national foundry 
on the Deep River, determined me to embrace in 
the objects of my visit the examination of the 
coal and iron, and whatever else might be useful 
for ordnance purposes. 

Taking the plank road, the first point reached 
on Deep River is the Gulf, distant from this place 

* Printed by order of the U. S. House of Representatives, June 
10, 1856. 



140 COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

forty-nine miles. Its elevation above Fayetteville 
is 150 feet. The coal and iron both crop out here ; 
the former has been used from this mine for a 
longer time than from any other place in the coal- 
fields, and was known, and reported upon, at 
the time of the Revolution. 

No machinery has ever been put uj) for work- 
ing the mine, as wood is so abundant that the de- 
mand for coal is confined to the different black- 
smiths' shops in the neighborhood. 

At Egypt, five miles east of the Gulf, prepara- 
tions for mining the coal have been made on a 
large scale. On a broad plain, more than 500 
yards from the river, a shaft has been sunk, cut- 
ting the coal at 425 feet from the surface of the 
ground. Permanent buildings have been erected 
and a steam-engine of forty horse-power has been 
put up to raise the coal, and a similar one is soon 
to be used to keep the mine free from water. At 
this shaft the top bench of coal is four feet in 
thickness, underlaid by a vein of slate eighteen 
inches thick, which separates it from the low^er 
bench, which is twenty-tw^o inches thick. There 
is a vein of coal seven inches thick under six 
inches of slate, but this is not at present worked. 
The entire thickness of coal is, therefore, six feet 
four inches. I descended the shaft and exam- 
ined the coal in place. When first mined it is 
clean and lustrous, scarcely soiling the fingers, 
and very free from earthy matter. Its qualities 
have been summed u}) by Professor Emmons, 
who has examined it critically. He says of it, 
"it is scarcely equaled for fineness and excel- 
lency in this country ; it is highly combustible, 
easily ignited, and burns with a bright flame ; it 
is rich in bitumen, and contains but very little 



COAL AKD IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 141 

sulphur ; it furnislies an excellent coke, and is 
well adapted to the work of reducing metals, in- 
asmuch as its flame is free and durable ; it is ad- 
mirably adapted for steamings ; and for forge 
use it is not surj)assed by any coal in the market. 
For the manufacture of gas no coal is superior 
to it." 

At the Egypt mine I witnessed its fine quali- 
ties for driving the engine. It is used exclusively 
for this XDurj)ose, though wood is abundant, close 
at hand, and worth only the cutting and hauling. 

In sinking this shaft four strata of iron ore 
were jienetrated, varying in thickness from ten 
inches to three feet, amounting in all to six feet. 
Fire-clays in abundance were also met with. 

I visited also the the coal mines of Farmville, 
about ^VG miles east of Egyi3t. This is a surface 
mine, and has been worked, though it is not at 
present. Permanent buildings have been erected, 
and a steam-engine put up for raising the coal 
and pumx3ing out the water from the mine ; rail 
track and cars are provided, so that they can go 
to work on an extensive scale as soon as transpor- 
tation is provided to take the coal to market. 

Taylor s mine, two miles west of Egypt, has 
been worked, but no buildings or machinery have 
been erected. I found s^jecimens of iron ore at 
this place also. 

These are all the mines that I visited. There 
are others that are opened and worked to some 
extent, though the principal ones are those I vis- 
ited. At Hornesville, Bye's, Fooshee, Wilcox, 
Chalmers, Sinclair, and others, coal has been 
taken out, covering a space of about thu^ty miles 
in length. The quality of the coal at these lo- 
calities is much the same, except at Wilcox's, and 



142 COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

one or two otlier places, wliere it is semi-anthra- 
cite. 

Iron ore of the coal formation is found in quan- 
tities all along the out cropping of the coal. A 
different ore, the pure oxide, is found in a large 
vein, about six miles north of the Gulf, where it 
has been traced for several miles, east and west. 
It has never been worked. About five miles 
further north lies the Iron Mountain or Ore Hill, 
several hundred feet high, and about two miles 
long, composed almost entirely of a rich iron ore 
— the red hematite. About the time of the Rev- 
olution this ore was worked, and the remains of 
the old furnace, the slag, etc., still, exist where 
the smelting was carried on. Some specimens of 
the specular iron ore have been found in this 
vicinity. 

In the immediate neighborhood there is an 
abundance of wood to make charcoal for the 
manufacture of iron, and the nearest coal mines 
are only ten or eleven miles distant. 

The valley of the Deep River is generally 
cleared of its timbers, and is under cultivation : 
the hills and the valleys of many of the small 
creeks have still their i^rimeval growth upon them, 
and in many places there are oaks, poplars, ash, 
hickories, and gums of fine size, and well adapted 
for the construction of gun-carriages. On Indian 
creek, about three miles above the Gulf, I found 
some fine trees — none of the largest size. 

On McLennon's Creek, a tributary of Deep 
River, about eight miles above Carbonton, there 
is some very large timber, capable of furnishing 
pieces of the greatest required dimensions for the 
heavy seacoast carriages. 

I also found on Crawley's Creek, a branch of 



COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 143 

McLennon's, some fine white-oak timber; trees 
from two to three feet in diameter. The large 
trees are found, in all cases, in the low, wet val- 
leys, which have been fertilized by frequent over- 
flows ; the timber cannot be so good as that which 
grows in higher and drier places. 

On Crawley's Creek there is line sandstone for 
building purposes, and also grit, suitable for 
grindstones, of various degrees of fineness. 

In this vicinity there is also soaj)stone in abun- 
dance, which can be had in large blocks. 

There are mill-seats on all of the many creeks, 
many of which are already improved, and saw- 
mills are to be met with every few miles. 

From McLennon' s Creek I passed on to Ran- 
dolph County, in the vicinity of Ashboro', and 
examined the timber on UAvharrie River, which 
empties into the Pedee. The valley of this river 
being generally fertile and well adapted for agri- 
culture, it is mostly cleared, and under cultiva- 
tion. There are some small tracts, however, 
where the timber has been permitted to stand, 
and there the growth is of large size. The same 
remark is applicable to Sandy Creek, which flows 
into Deep River, just below Franklinsville. I 
went up this creek twelve miles before finding a 
tract of any size that was uncleared. Timber of 
the largest dimensions can be furnished from this 
county, but it will be by taking a tree here, and 
one there, wherever they can be found. I found 
on Mill Creek, about three miles from Franklins- 
ville, a few large trees from three to three and a 
half feet in diameter. 

There are no extensive tracts, that I could hear 
of, where there was an abundance of timber of 
large and thrifty growth, but there is the greatest 



144 COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

abundance of white oaks of moderate size, from 
eighteen inches to two feet in diameter, suita]:)le 
for wagons and field-carriages. Tlie best, for this 
purpose, that I have seen, is in the vicinity of 
Franklinsville. The country is hilly, the soil a 
stiff red clay, with many quartz-rocks scattered 
over it ; the timber is firmer and tougher than 
that which grows on lighter soils, or in the sandy 
country. In this opinion I am confirmed by the 
experience of some of the wagon and carriage 
makers, whose opinions I have heard expressed. 

About three miles from Franklinsville, I visited 
a shaft, sunk about sixty feet, passing through a 
vein of specular iron ore the greater part of that 
distance.^ The ore has never been worked. There 
is also magnetic ore found in the vicinity. 

In this part of the country I find that white oak 
is never used for the naves or fellies of wagons. 
For the former, black gum, red elm or post- oak, 
is invariably used ; and for the latter, the willow- 
oak. They all possess the advantage over the 
white oak of not splitting so readily. 

The willow-oak is a coarse-grained wood, grow- 
ing in moist places, tough and hard, and possess- 
ing great strength ; it is always used for plow- 
beams and such like purposes, where strength 
and stiffness are required. 

White-oak timber is not very valuable, being- 
used mostly for making spirits of turpentine bar- 
rels. Near Ashboro' I found it was used for lay- 
ing the plank road, though the pine is still plenty: 
the oak is heavier to haul, but lasts longer. 

The carriage and wagon makers pay from twelve 
to fifteen dollars per thousand for their white oak, 
delivered at their shoj)s, sawed through and 
through the log, into boards from one and a half 



COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 145 

to two and a lialf inches in thickness. The trans- 
portation from Ashboro' to this place is estimated 
to cost fourteen dollars per thousand feet. The 
road is planked the entire distance, eighty 
miles. 

There is a locality on the east side of the Cape 
Fear, about sixty or seventy miles distant, on the 
New Hope River, which is said to abound in 
white-oak timber of large size. The valley of this 
river is represented as low and Avet, and has not, 
in consequence, been cleared of its forest growth 
for agricultural purposes. It was from the head- 
waters of this stream that a contractor, four years 
ago, endeavored to furnish timber for this arsenal, 
but was compelled to abandon the contract in con- 
sequence of the great expense of transportation, 
being obliged to haul his timber some sixty or 
seventy miles through the sand. 

Since that time the navigation of the Cape Fear 
has been improved, and water trans]3ortation for 
forty miles can now be had in place of wagoning. 
After farther improvements in the river, this tim- 
ber may become available for ordnance purposes 
at this arsenal. 

There is timber on Crane's Creek, thirty-three 
miles from here, but not of the large kind, and its 
quality is granted to be inferior to that of Frank- 
linsville. 

White-oak timber can also be had from the val- 
ley of the Cape Fear, within fifteen miles of this 
place, and farther up ; but the samples that I 
have seen are inferior in quality, being light and 
brash. 

I have made some trials of the strength of the 
white oak of this section of country, and give 
below the results. The timber was cut in 1852, 



146 COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

and was from tlie counties of E<andoli)h and 
Orange. 

The pieces were two feet long between the bear- 
ing points ; their cross-section was an inch and a 
half square. The bearing points were knife 
edges, and the breaking weights were applied 
to a knife-edge resting equidistant from points 
of support. Weights were added till the piece 
gave way. 



WHERE FROM. 



BREAKING WEIGHTS . 



ii 



Franklinsville 

Same tree, Franklinsville 

do 

do 

Same tree, do 

do 

Orange Co., (near Chapel Hill) 
Same tree,Or.Co.(nr.Chap.Hill) 

do do 

do do 

do do 

do .do 



920 

952 

952 

920 

906 

873J 

1,085 

1,184 

1,284 

754 

794 

973 



lbs. bent .75 in, 

'' " .75 " 

" " .75 " 

" " .75 " 

" " .75 " 

4" " .75 " 

" " 1.50 " 

" " 1.50 " 

" " 1.50 " 

" " .5 " 



Grain, diagonal. 

" perpendicular, 

" parallel. 

" oblique. 

" diagonal. 

" oblique tough. 

*' perpen'r tough. 

" parallel, tough. 

" diagonal. 

" parallel. 



Experiments, similar to the above, were made 
at the Washington arsenal several years since, to 
test the effect of Dr. Earle's process, but I have 
not been able to procure any record of them to 
make a comparison l>etween this and the oak of 
the middle States. 

I enclose, herewith, a map of the coal region, 
and a sketch of the places visited. 

Very respectfully, I am, colonel, your obedient 
servant, 

T. T. S. LAIDLEY, 

Brevet Major. 
Col. H. K. Craig, 

Ordnance Office, Washington, D. C. 



COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 147 



The Deep River Region, 



[Admiral Wilkes' Report.*] 

Washington, December 30, 1858. 

Sir : In obedience to your order of the 21st of 
July, appointing a commission, to consist of my- 
self, Chief Engineers Henry Hunt and D. B. 
Martin, and Naval Constructor S. M. Pook, to 
make a thorough examination of the Deep river 
country in the State of North Carolina, and to 
report ui)on the expediency of establishing, at 
some point in that State, machine and work shops 
for the construction of engines, boilers, etc., for 
naval vessels, as embraced in a resolution of Con- 
gress, April 13j I have the honor to submit the 
following reports : 

Before entering into the details of our examin- 
tion of the Deep river district, it may be proper 
to give the extent of the sandstone formation of 
this part of North Carolina in which the coal 
measures lie. 

Professor Olmstead, of Yale College, was the 
first to define this extent, in 1824, and more re- 
cently it has been examined by Professor Em- 
mons. They both agree that its northern terminus 
is near Oxford, in Granville county, where it 
comes to a point. It passes from thence in a 
southwesterly direction across the State for 120 
miles, and has its terminus about 6 or 7 miles 
Avithin the boundary of South Carolina. The 
breadth of the formation varies. Between Raleigh 

* Printed by order of U. S. Senate, Feb. 9, 1859. 



148 COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

and Chapel Hill if is reiiorted as being 18 miles. 
On the Cape Fear I found it less than five, which 
continues for some ten miles to the southward 
and westward. It then suddenly enlarges to 12 
miles, embracing the whole valley of the Deep 
river district, and is then continued, contracting 
gradually, till it passes out of the State, near 
Wadesborough. 

The rocks which bound this sandstone forma- 
tion are the metamorphic slates, gneiss, and gran- 
ites ; on these the formation reposes. Their out- 
crops are seen with a great dip to the northwest, 
giving a well defined outline of this sandstone 
deposit. 

A ]3articular description of the geographical 
position of the Deep river country is deemed 
necessary from the fact that but little is known 
of it even in the capital of North Carolina. 

The Deep river district is situated 30 miles 
southwest from Raleigh, 15 miles south from 
Pittsborough, and 50 miles north from Fayette- 
ville. It occupies the very center of the State, 
and comx)rises part of the counties of Chatham 
and Moore. It forms an extensive valley, bounded 
by the Pittsborough hills on the north and east, 
the Buckhorn hills on the south, and the Carthage 
hills on the west. 

This area lies between the Cape Fear river on 
the east and the Hancock mills on the west, the 
head waters of the creeks flowing to the Deep 
river from the south, and those which take their 
rise toward Pittsborough on the north. This dis- 
trict is about 25 miles in length by 10 in width, 
and embraces an area of some 250 or 300 square 
miles. To this our examination was confined. 

The Deep river takes its rise in the county of 



COAL AISTD IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 149 

Guilford, flows to the southeast through the 
county of Randolph, with a descent of some 500 
to 600 feet in some 60 miles, until it enters the 
county of Moore, in the neighborhood of Han- 
cock's Mills, towards which its current is rapid ; 
thence its general direction is to the north of east 
for 30 miles, pursuing a very tortuous and slug- 
gish course, with a fall of 27 feet, and joins the 
Haw river, at that distance, coming from the 
northwest to form the Cape Fear river. 

The country which it drains comprises an area 
of one thousand miles, affording an abundant 
supply of water for its slack- water navigation and 
for milling purposes. It is subject, occasionally, 
to great freshets in the lower part, which over- 
flow its banks to the depth of ten or twelve feet, 
but owing to the sluggish flow of the current, it 
passes off without damage to the crops and farms. 

In our examination of the coal and iron of this 
district I must refer to the geological formation, 
and, for the purpose of more clearly illustrating 
and understanding the limits, will treat it as an 
independent formation, (for such it may be 
regarded, being unconformable to the primitive 
rocks, ) under its three natural divisions, viz : 

First. The conglomerate and lower red sand- 
stone. 

Second. The coal measures, including the sand- 
stones of a drab color, bituminous shales, and 
slates. 

Third. The tertiary and drift. 

These three occupy the depression, or basin, of 
the primitive formation, the outline of which may 
be recognized a short space beyond the outcrops. 

In every x)art of the coal field w^e have evidence 
that the conglomerates rest ux3on the metamorphic 



150 COAL Al^D IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

slates, gneiss, or granite. Tlie effects of upheaval, 
as well as diluvial action, are visible in many 
places tliroughout its extent. 

In order to define the extent of the basin I 
found it necessary to search not only for the out- 
crop of the coal 13 ut also for the outcrops of the 
underlying as well as the outlying rocks ; and, 
assisted by information derived from reliable 
authority, I succeeded in tracing it from one 
Jocality to another, until I had obtained what I 
deemed sufficient evidence of the margin of the 
basin or trough. 

The following is the course which it follows : 

The line of outcrop of this coal has been traced, 
beginning near Dye's, to the eastward of the 
plantation of Evander Mclver ; thence westward 
some two miles, near the house of Mclver, turn- 
ing there to the north-northwest of his plantation ; 
thence towards the northeast for two and a half 
miles, and then to the westward, crossing the 
Deep river at Mr. Wicker's plantation, from 
which place to the westward, passing through the 
Farmville plantation in nearly a straight line, 
touching the river near the bend opposite Egypt, 
and continuing beyond through the Taylor, 
Haughton, Tysor, and Palmer plantations, a dis- 
tance of seven miles. 

From the latter to the Bingham plantations its 
course is west-southwest five miles, and thence it 
passes on a more westerly course, through the 
Murchison and Fooshee plantations three miles, 
again crossing the river, and is covered up near 
the latter by the overlying debris of the rocks. 

On the south the coal does not outcrop, owing 
to thick covering of the debris of the rocks, which 
has been deposited over it. We have therefore 



COAL ANTD IKON OF NORTH CAROLINA. If)! 

to refer to tlie outcrops of the conglomerates and 
red sandstone, and the dip and strike of the slates 
and sandstones overlying the coal measures on 
the western end, to assist us in arriving at the 
form of this basin. 

The conglomerates are seen to extend beyond 
the coal at the southwestern end ; several quarries 
have been worked on Richland creek, where the 
millstones have been sought for and found. 
Their direction changes towards the south and 
southeast, across the range of the sandstone for- 
mation of the State. This is also observed of the 
slates and sandstones, the dij)s tending towards 
the axis, while the strike conforms to the margin 
of the iDasin. The slates are generally argil- 
laceous and destitute of fossils ; the sandstones 
are fine, with ripple marks resembling those 
which lie beneath the coal of the Egyx)t shaft. 

The rock which has been termed the upper red 
sandstone I have nowhere encountered, except 
beyond the margin or a short distance within the 
basin, as an upper deposit. I think it has no 
place in the formation of this trough or basin ; 
but it is of recent origin, j)robably of the tertiary. 
It lies unconformably to the rocks of the basin, 
and the beds of j^ebbly quartz, which in certain 
localities are found near it, ap^Dear to be accumu- 
lated drifts from the older and outlying rocks. 

In all cases where the conglomerate crops out 
we find the lower red sandstone accompanying it. 

The lower rocks are seen on the south side along 
the courses of the creeks which flow towards the 
Deep River, where they crop out with a dip to- 
wards the northwest and a strike to the northeast 
and southwest. The southern outcrops are not 
so distinct or continuous as on the northern sides, 



152 COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

yet tliey offer abundant evidence of the limit to 
wMcli the coal must be circumscribed. The rocks 
have a less and opposite dip, but the strike con- 
forms to the basin. These rocks lie in contact 
with the primitive formation of metamorphic 
slates, gneiss, and granite, along the Buckhorn 
range, the whole surface of which is strewn with 
fragmentary quartz. 

These outcrops have been further traced to the 
northeastward to Gilmore's mill, on Pattison's 
Creek ; to the north at Evander Mclver's mill, on 
the Great Buffalo creek, and at the Little Buffalo 
church ; thence to the eastward, again outcrop- 
ping on the head waters or branches of Lick 
creek, near Kelly's mills, at the "Sisters" and 
' ' Wooley Rock ; ' ' thence to below the mouth 
of Lick creek, and about a mile above the junc- 
tion of the Buckhorn creek with the Cape Fear 
river. 

The conglomerate on the north side is seen at 
House' s quarry, then near Jones' falls, dipping 
to the eastward, and (thence is traced to Elling- 
ton' s by Professor Emmons ; then to the south- 
westward to near Y. Wicker' s plantation, where 
it makes a turn to the northwest toward' s M. 
Wicker's,) passing between his house and the 
Deep River ; crosses the Deep River near George's 
creek, and pursues a course to the westward a 
short distance to the north of the outcrops of the 
coal, and nearly parallel to its curve. 

Thus I have traced the peculiar outline of the 
basin or trough, and thereby determined its length 
and width. 

It will thus be seen that from Evander Mclver's 
to Ellington's the north and south conglomerates, 
with the red sandstones, aj)proach nearest to each 



COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 158 

other, and have almost a parallel direction, with 
ojpposite dips. They are not separated more than 
two and a half miles. 

It is therefore evident that the older rocks have 
narrowed the depression, though perhaps not 
lessened the depth ; consequently, some of the 
overlying rocks may be wanting, or thin out, as 
they are observed to do near this locality. 

The topography of the country shows that the 
outcrops of the conglomerates conform to the high- 
est ridges, and follow them almost at a uniform 
height, leading to the conclusion that at some re- 
mote period the whole was deposited at the same 
time and derived from the same source. 

It is apparent, also, that the debris of the rocks 
in the upper or most western part of the valley 
have been carried by the water towards its east- 
tern termination and deposited ; thus the valley 
or lake (if such it was) has been gradually filled 
up and the river finally confined to the channel 
it now occupies, winding with little fall through 
the alluvial or drift, from ten to fifteen feet below 
the surface of the valley. 

Although the deposit of coal in the Deep river 
district will not bear a comparison to the vast 
fields of that mineral in the western States, yet, 
owing to its position, proximity to market, and 
adaptability to many purposes in the arts, and 
connected as it is with extensive beds of iron 
ore, it may be esteemed of great value and 
interest to the State as well as of national 
importance. 

The shaft which has been sunk by the Gover- 
nor' s Creek Coal and Iron Company, at Egypt, 
affords the most reliable evidence of the perpen- 
dicular section of the strata, to the depth of four 



154 COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

hundred and sixty feet below tlie surface, and 
includes the lower coal seam. 

This shaft has fully established the existence 
of several veins of coal as well as veins of valu- 
able iron ores, lying in juxtaposition with the 
coal. It is situated fifteen hundred feet within 
the outcrop of coal, to the south and perpendicu- 
lar to its trend. 

The strata in the shaft of Egypt, however, can- 
not be taken as a true development of the coal 
field. At short distances from it, both east and 
west, we find the sandstones in thicker masses, 
and replacing some of the slates exhibited in the 
section, which shows but a limited development 
of them. It will be seen that the first sandstone 
met with is at the depth of 323 feet, 100 feet 
above the coal, and but one foot in thickness. 

There are two lower seams, separated by a strata 
of black slate, with iron balls 405 feet deep, 
and one foot ten inches, and three feet in thick- 
ness. 

By this section we are assured of the depth at 
which the underlying seams of coal are found. 
Five are seen at the outcrop, which unite as they 
descend and form but four in the shaft. The 
large or six feet wide seam in the shaf t, at Egypt, 
is 423 feet deep. Between the coal seams are 
found carbonates of iron, known by the name of 
the "Blackband." 

I think every one must be satisfied, from its 
regularity and the diminution of dip in the dis- 
tance from the outcroj^, (some eight or ten 
degrees) that its seams tend to conform to the 
shape of a basin or trough. 

It appears that the greatest depth of this coal 
basin is on the northern side, giving cause to be- 



COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 155 

lieve that this valuable mineral does not extend 
below siidt depths as to render its mining both 
profitable and easy. 

We may acquire some ajDproximate estimation 
as to the quantity of coal this basin may contain 
by taking the data which our results give of the 
extent of the basin, viz : some 75 square miles, 
which there is every probability is underlaid by 
the veins of coal, from which the value of this 
mineral- wealth, locked up in this district, may 
be readily calculated. 

There is no anthracite coal in this field. In 
some places it is debituminous, viz: at Tysor's, 
Palmer' s, and Wilcox' s, where it has undergone, 
with the slates and beds of iron ore, much disturb- 
ance, probably by an upheaval, and afterwards 
been denuded by the action of the river, which 
has removed the debris of the rocks and exposed 
to view the shales and slates as far as the planta- 
tions of Mr. Alston and Mr. Clegg. 

Through the heat of the trap dyke which has 
been injected near by, its volatile matter has been 
driven off, leaving it in a debituminized state, or 
nearly a natural coke. It corresponds in fracture 
with the coals of other localities in the field, and 
is known under the appellation of " dry coal ; " 
but I have seen none with a concoidal fracture, 
which the true anthracites have as their dis- 
tinguishing mark. The "Wilcox seam" is of 
this character ; its outcrop corresponds in thick- 
ness with the upper coal seam. 

In the neighborhood of the Wilcox place small 
seams of natural coke are found to crop out in 
juxtaposition with veins of iron ore. In some 
parts these have undergone great heat, sufficient 
to change them to scoria. 



156 COAL AND lEON OF NOETH CAKOLINA. 

The coal lying to tlie northward of tlie Wilcox 
outcrop is, however, unaltered, and similar to the 
best kind of coal, affording evidence that the 
heat of the trap dyke has been confined to a 
limited space, and effected only a local change in 
the character and position of the coal along the 
line of its strike, which passes through the Evans, 
Tysor's, Palmer, and Haughton plantations, in a 
E.NE. direction. 

There also appears to have been a disturbance 
near Evander Mclver's, and an injection of trap, 
which, however, does not appear to have changed 
the coal, as at Wilcox' s. Here we find the out- 
crops of the black slates and ripple marked sand- 
stones lying within a few hundred feet of each 
other, with opposite dips and strikes. The posi- 
tion of this outcrop is 150 feet above the plain of 
Egypt. 

The sandstone, traced round to the southward 
of the black slate, is found of great thickness 
near the conglomerates in the neighborhood of 
Mclvers mill, on the Great Buffalo creek. 

This sandstone has larger ri]3ple marks and is 
more argellaceous than that which underlies the 
coal in the shaft at Egypt, 450 feet below the sur- 
face, but otherwise resembles it. 

It will be observed that these two strata, which 
we find in the shaft at Egypt underlying the coal, 
are here noticed to the southward and eastward 
of the northern outcrop, and apparently overly- 
ing it ; but it is readily seen that they must be 
the sandstone and black slates of the southern 
side of the basin. 

This disturbance probably took place before 
the injection of the ''trap dyke." 

The black slates pursue a direct course on their 



COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 157 

strike, and, after a considerable distance, disap- 
pear under the debris of the rocks. It is this 
locality where the two conglomerates approach 
nearest to each other. 

I am strongly impressed with the belief that 
coal will be found within the area between 
Mclver'sand Jones' Falls, or to the eastward, 
beyond where its outcrop is seen to end. 

Nearly the whole of this space is now covered 
with forest, and a deep deposit of drift overlies 
it, so that no outcrops of the recent or older rocks 
appear. 

The conglomerates consist of quartz pebbles of 
various sizes, most of which have undergone 
much attrition, some round, others oblong. These 
are intermixed with disintegrated slates of the 
older rocks, consolidated by a cement under great 
pressure. 

In some localities the cement is mixed, more or 
less, with marly clays, colored red by the oxide 
of iron, which diminishes their hardness. With 
this exception, on the north and south sides, the 
conglomerates are alike. 

At the west end the cement is the strongest, 
and the rocks are quarried for mill stones. 

The red sandstone lying above the conglomerate 
is of a dark, purplish color, approaching that of 
a burnt brick. Its texture is even, composed of 
fine grains of quartz, is a good freestone, and has 
few marly layers. 

The black slates lie next above the red sand- 
stone, and is the rock in which the shaft at Egypt 
ends. 

Above, in the series, they alternate with the 
argillaceous slates, and contain deposits of argil- 
laceous iron ore. They are from fifteen to forty 



158 COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

feet ill tliickness ; tliis is tlie strata in which the 
fossils ill the series are found, consisting of posi- 
donia, cy there, etc. 

The drab colored sandstone, known by its ripple 
marks, is a fine and compact kind. In color it is 
of a dirty buff or greenish yellow, and the sur- 
face is not unfrequently marked with marine 
plants. It is suitable for grindstones, and might 
be used as a firm and solid material for building. 

The bituminous shales in connection with the 
coal are very inflammable, and burn with a white 
flame. They contain nearly 30 per cent, of 
volatile matter, and about 20 per cent, of fixed 
carbon ; they will probably be used for the prep- 
aration of kerosene oil, though they do not 
yield the quantity that is obtained from the coal 
in the west. At the present price it can be 
manufactured from the shales at a profit. I have 
seen samples of it which had been well clarified. 
The bituminous shales all lie above the coal and 
in strata, alternating with the argillaceous slates. 
The fire clays do not occur, as in other coal fields, 
immediately below the coal seams ; but the sand- 
stone partakes somewhat of this character. They 
are interstratified with the slates. According to 
Professor Emmons, organic remains traverse 
them vertically ; the plants are different from 
other coal fields, and the sigillaria have not yet 
been discovered. 

The calcareous shales are greenish in color and 
resemble somewhat magnesian limestone. These 
contain no fossils, and in thickness vary from 
four to twent3^-five feet. 

The upper red sandstone differs from the lower 
in being soft and perishable, from its marly 
nature. In color it is of a light red, occasionally 



COAL AND lEON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 159 

a light brown, mottled with green spots and often 
variegated. The outline of these is distinct. In 
it are found many cavities of irregular shape, 
around which is generally perceived, during the 
summer season, a white efflorescence ; this proved 
to be common salt, (chloride of soda.) It was 
found more abundant on the western end of the 
coal held, Avhere this red sandstone overlies the 
formations. In some cases wells which are sunk 
in this rock have brackish water ; but where 
they go deeper than 30 to 35 feet the water is 
pure. In the deep shaft at Egypt the water is 
entirely free from saline taste. In my inquiries 
I was not able to learn of the existence of any 
salt springs. The upper red sandstone bears a 
resemblance to the lower in its lithological char- 
acter, but there is a marked difference in their 
fossils. 

The plant bed of Professor Emmons, I think, 
gives evidence that this upper red sandstone is 
totally distinct, and more recent than the coal 
formation of the valley of the Deep river. 

It will be seen, from the foregoing remarks, 
that I am of opinion that this formation of coal 
belongs to the new red sandstone, and, as far as 
my observations have gone, the fossils appear to 
prove it. 

The coal of the lower seam lies, as will be seen, 
between two seams of black band ore, and more 
or less partakes of their character. It is conse- 
quently unfitted for use as a fuel, but is well 
adapted to the reduction, by roasting, of this ore 
for iron. 

The three upper seams of the bituminous coal 
are well adapted for fuel, cooking, gas, and oil. 
It is a shining and clean coal, resembling the best 



160 COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

specimens of Cumbeiiancl. It ignites easily, and 
burns with a bright, clear combustion, and leaves 
a very little pur^Dlish gray ash. It swells and 
agglutinates, making a hollow fire ; is a desirable 
coal for blacksmiths' use, for the parlor, and su- 
perior to most coals for the production of gas, for 
which it is likely to be in great demand. Its 
freedom from sulphur is another of its recom- 
mendations. 

It is thought not to readily disintegrate by ex- 
posure to the atmosphere. Its coke is light and 
porous. When rapidly burned it inclines to 
melt and flow ; but when under slow combustion 
it does not exhibit this tendency, which is owing 
to the presence of a large quantity of bitumen. 

I was, at first, determined to have the iron ores 
of this district tested both by an assay and by 
chemical analysis. The former, it is believed, 
affords a more practical test of their value ; but 
as it could not be obtained within the time, the 
chemical analysis was alone made. The ores and 
coal were submitted to Professor George 0. 
Schaeffer, of this city, Avhose ability and care in 
this operation are well known, and who has 
afforded me full data of the results and the man- 
ner of conducting the analysis. 

COAL FROM EGYPT SHAFT. 

The mode of analysis was as follows : The coal 
was dried and coarsely powdered, and ignited in 
a covered crucible until all inflammable matter 
had been driven off. 

The quantity of sulphur was determined by 
digesting the finely pulverized coal in fuming 
nitric acid, to which, from time to time, chlorate 



GOAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 161 

of potassa was added ; by which process most of 
the carbon was oxidized. The sulphur was then 
estimated in the usual way — from the quantity of 
sulphate of baryta precipitated. The result was, 
sulphur, 1.3 per cent. 

The large quantity of inflammable matter that 
the coal contains led to a slight variation in the 
results, as in one case the vessel was found lined 
with carbon deposited from the gas coming in 
contact with the highly heated surface. 

The first specimen gives — 

Bituminous matter as gas 30. 

Fixed carbon, (coke) 70. 

Second specimen — 

Bituminous matter as gas 34. 

Fixed carbon, (coke) 66. 

The ash in first was 5.3 per cent. ; second, 5.4 
per cent. The composition of this coal is, there- 
fore, as follows : 

Per cent. 

Bituminous matter given off as gas 83.7 

Fixed carbon, (coke). 60.7 

Ash 5.3 

Sulphur 1.3 

100.0 

Specific gravity 1.28 ). o-ya ^«„« 

Another speciien 1.277 P '^^^ "^^^°- 

The coal is a light, highly bituminous coal, 
yielding a shining and very porous coke and pur- 
plish ash, an excellent coal for making gas or 
for burning. It absorbs only g oV^ of its weight 
of water, after having been immersed for some 
time. 

From Professor Johnson's able report we have 



162 COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

several analyses of tliis coal, from the Farmville 
estate, whicli give the mean results as follows : 

Carbon 59.25 

Volatile matter 30.53 

Earthy 10.21 

99.99 

Specific gravity 1.409. 

The dry or debituminized coal has less than 
one-quarter of the volatile matter that the bitu- 
minous coal contains. It is thought that it can- 
not compete v^ith the true anthracites of Penn- 
sylvania in the northern markets. It is, however, 
adapted for stoves, and for the reduction of iron 
ores in roasting. 

I have heretofore stated that there is but a 
small quantity of this coal in the basin, and that 
it has been produced by a change in the bitu- 
minous, effected by the heat of the trap dykes. 

Professor Schaeffer remarks on this description 
of coal from the Wilcox vein, that it has a cubical 
fracture, as is seen in some specimens of anthra- 
cite, with a metallic lustre. When it is heated to 
a high degree it decrepitates with violence, falling 
into thin plates. 

The loss, after intense ignition in a covered 
crucible, was, in one experiment, 3.1 per cent., 
and in a second, 3.8. This loss is not imputed to 
the escape of bituminous matter, nor from en- 
closed, uncombined water ; for both sj^ecimens 
were well dried. On an average the composition 
of this coal may be stated as follows : 

Water and volatile matter 3 . 75 

Fixed carbon 87.75 

Ash 8.50 

100.00 

Specific gravity 1.8. 



COAL AND lEON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 163 

The quantity of ash varies considerably, from 
7 per cent, to 10 per cent. 

When this coal has a cross fracture at right 
angles to its laminae, various substances, in solu- 
tion, seem to have been introduced, particularly 
oxide of iron. This affects its quality. 

The specific gravity and the increased quantity 
of ash confirm the supposition that this coal is, 
like the bituminous, deprived of its volatile mat- 
ter by heat, while under pressure, and that the 
decrepitation may be due to a constrained con- 
dition of its particles. 

The large quantity of carbon it contains will 
render it serviceable in some metallurgic or manu- 
facturing process, but as a fuel it cannot well be 
used, from the decrepitation it undergoes. 

Professor Johnson gives the analysis of this 
coal, the mean of three experiments, viz : 

Fixed carbon 83.13 83.36 87.18 = 84.56 

Volatile matter 8.28 6.64 7.35= 7.42 

Earthy matter 8.60 9.60 5.47= 7.89 



100.00 100.00 100.00 = 99.87 



Mean specific gravity 1.49. 

IRON ORES. 

Professor Schaeffer was directed to examine the 
iron ores, with particular reference to a determi- 
nation of their commercial value, or if they were 
combined with any injurious substances, espec- 
ially phosphorus and sulphur. The method of 
analysis he reports as having adopted is as fol- 
lows, "viz : The ore was reduced, in an agate mor- 



164 COAL AND lEON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

tar, to an impalpable powder ; a part weighed, 
then dried, and ignited in an open crucible to 
drive off water and burn all carbonaceous matter, 
and the quantity thus driven off and consumed 
determined. 

It was digested in hydrochloric or nitro-hydro 
chloric acid, according to circumstances, until 
everything soluble was taken wp ; the solution 
was then, after dilution, filtered, and the residue 
insoluble in acid determined. This was mainly, 
if not entirely, silica. The acid solution, con- 
taining more or less of peroxide of iron, was then 
acted upon by a current of washed sulphurated 
hydrogen, or by its solution in water, until sul- 
pho-cyanite of iDotassium gave little or no color, 
evidencing that all of the peroxide of iron had 
been reduced to a protoxide. The solution, 
smelling strongly of sulphurated hydrogen, was 
then boiled until every trace of this gas had dis- 
appeared. 

The quantity of iron present was then deter- 
mined by the quantity of a solution bichromate 
of potassa required to convert the protoxide to 
peroxide, as ascertained by testing with a solution 
of ferricyanide of potassium. The solution of 
bichromate was made according to the equivalents 
required. It was more than once tested by solu- 
tions of known quantities of pure iron, so that 
there might be no doubt as to the results. When 
any variations from this mode of analysis were 
adopted it will be noticed under the respective 
ores. All the ores were tested for the presence 
of sulphur and phosphorus. The test for sulphur 
was by the action of chloride of barium upon the 
acid solutions. The presence of phosphorus was 
determined by an acid solution of molybdate of 



COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 165 

ammonia in excess. This test gave a negative 
result, except in one case. The presence of either 
of these substances was only ascertained in the 
ores in which it is mentioned. 

The 'black band ore is said to have been first 
noticed at the Farmville pits, where it crops out. 
It appears not to have been suspected as being- 
similar to the black band of Scotland. At its 
outcrop it resembles the argillaceous carbonates, 
but the change it undergoes was thought to be 
owing to the influence of the weather. When 
found in the coal fields it invariably accompanies 
the coal seam. There is a seam lying between 
the two upper seams of coal of sixteen inches 
thick, and two others, each three feet in thick- 
ness, below the sandstone or fire clay, having a 
thin seam of coal between them. With this seam 
of coal they may be mined with great advantage. 

This ore is readily distinguished from a slate 
by its own brownish black color. It has an even 
fracture, slightly concoidal, massive and compact. 
After being roasted, it is strongly magnetic ; it is 
easily converted into x)ig metal, and the coal mined 
with it is almost sufficient for this purpose. The 
iron produced from it is highly valued to mix 
with other ores for castings, but for forging it is 
deficient in strength and never used. 

Professor Schaeffer remarks upon this black 
band ore, that it has a slaty structure, and is 
highly bituminous. The iron is present in the 
form of carbonate of the protoxide ; there is also 
some carbonate of lime and the usual earthy 
matter in such ores. It loses when burned with 
access of air 39.9 X3er cent., 24 per cent, going oiff 
as gas ; sulphur was present in considerate quan- 
tity, but not estimated. In its analysis the large 



166 COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

quantity of bituminous matter had at first pre- 
vented tlie complete solution of the iron. This 
was discovered on igniting the silica after a pro- 
longed digestion, when it was again digested in 
acid, and the whole of the iron obtained. 
The composition of this ore is as follows, viz : 

Per cent. 

Bitumen, carbonic acid, given off as gas 26.0 

Fixed carbon 15 .9 

Earthy matter soluble in acid 28.4 

Silica 13.5 

Protoxide of iron 17.2 

100.0 

Specific gravity, 2.12. 

^ This small per cent, of iron led to the examina- 
tion of another portion of this ore. It was first 
ignited, again pulverized and digested in acid. 
The result, however, was nearly the same as the 
above. The quantity of iron is too small to make 
this a good ore. It is more bituminous than the 
well known "black band," to which it bears a 
great resemblance. 

The composition of this "black band" ore, ac- 
cording to the analyses of Dr. Jackson, is much 
richer, and gives — 

Carbon 31.30 

Peroxide of iron 47 . 50 

Silex 9.00 

Bitumen and water 8 . 81 

Sulphur 3.39 



100.00 



The specimen analyzed by Professor Schaeffer 



COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 167 

contained, undoubtedly, much less iron than the 
general run of the vein, and much more bitumen, 
and, as he remarks, it might be used for making 
gas. He is of opinion it would bear the expense 
of transportation to be used for this purpose, (it 
furnishes, at least, one-fourth its weight of vola- 
tile matter,) as the sulj)hur is not given off until 
after the gas has escaped. 

The presence of phosphorus was detected in 
this ore in considerable quantity, j)robably owing 
to the (coprolites) animal matter it contains. 

Many coprolites are found in the black band, 
and fossils are also more abundant than in the 
slates. Professor Emmons found the Saurian 
teeth in great abundance in the seam, which in- 
tervenes between the upper coal beds. 

Specular ores occur outside the sandstone for- 
mation, about six miles to the northward of the 
Gulf, on the road towards the town of Graham. 
It is said to be in abundance, and the plank road 
passes not far from it. The analysis of the ore by 
Professor Schaeffer is as follows, viz : 

Peroxide of iron 96 . i . 

Silica 2.1 

Earthy matter soluble 1.5 

100.0 

This is nearly pure peroxide. 
The "heading ore" is also of this kind, and 
situated not far from it. It contains, viz : 

Peroxide 98.3 

Silica 1.4 

Soluble in acid 0.4 

loo;^ 



Specific gravity, 5.09. 



168 COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Prolonged ignition produced no ax3preciabie 
loss in weight. Few ores are as pure as this, and 
none but the nearly pure magnetic oxide are 
richer in iron. 

The hem a title ores are some distance beyond, 
and 9 miles from the Gulf, on a hill known as Ore 
Knob. It is elevated about 300 feet above the 
surrounding country, and covers about 860 acres. 
The ore is a red one. It is visible everywhere. 
A massive vein appears to bisect the hill, and 
continue beyond to the southwest. Some speci- 
mens of fibrous ore were observed. The hill is 
well situated for mining, and has been opened in 
several places, and we were informed was worked 
in the revolutionary war. Some castings are said 
to have been found, which were made then, and 
proved, on examination, to be of great strength 
and toughness. The analysis by Professor 
Schaeffer is as follows, viz : 

Peroxide of iron 74 3 

Silica 10.6 

Earthy Matter 5.6 

Water 9.5 

Sulphur, a trace 00 

100.0 

The quantity of iron makes this a valuable ore. 

Magnetic Iron Ore. — Its color is reddish brown; 
it lies in regular strata ; is 2i feet in thickness. 
It is found in various places, but was observed 
especially at the Tysor place. Its analysis by 
Professor Emmons gives, viz : 

Peroxide of iron 79.720 

Carbon 7.368 

Silica 4.000 

Water 8.800 



Contains 61 per cent. 



COAL AND IKON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 169 

When reduced to powder, this ore becomes of 
an olive brown color and attracted by the magnet. 
It is here that a company are erecting a Catalan 
forge for the production of blooms. 

The ''ball ore " resembles the ore of the other 
coal formations. It has also been analyzed and 
found to contain, viz : 

By Professor Schaeffkr. By Professor Emmons. 

Protoxide of iron 40 Peroxide of iron 33.40 

Silica 13 Silica 40.00 

Carbonic acid and carbona- Carbonate of lime 4.73 

ceous matter 34 Carbonic acid 18.31 

Earthy matter 13 Volatile'matter 4.66 

100 99.99 

There is another locality of iron ore lying with- 
out this coal formation, and rising through the 
older slate rocks, on the Cape Fear River, at 
Buckhorn Falls. Although it was not immedi- 
ately connected with the district to which our ex- 
amination was directed, yet it was visited. It 
lies some nine miles below the junction of the 
Haw and Deep Rivers, immediately on the east 
bank of the Cape Fear River. This ore hill rises 
about 300 feet in height. It passes in a southeast 
direction for nearly a mile, and covers a surface of 
over 300 acres. It is somewhat dome- shaped, and 
appears to be one mass of very rich ore, having a 
solid vein of pure peroxide, which is 8 feet in 
width, while ores containing manganese and sili- 
cious matter extend beyond it on each side. 

This remarkable ore was first discovered by Mr. 
Wm. McClane, but a few years since, and it proba- 
bly has not its equal as a deposit of iron in this 
country short of the Iron Mountain of Missouri. 
Professor Emmons says it is similar to that ore, 



170 COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



as well as to that found on Lake Superior. It is 
a massive peroxide of iron, in composition similar 
to the well known sx^ecular ore ; it is of a dull 
reddish brown color, has a bright red streak, is 
not crystallized, but very heavy, tough but not dif- 
ficult to break. He gives its analysis as follows : 
By Professor Emmons. By Professor Morfit. 

Peroxide of iron 95.20 Peroxide of iron 93.96 

Silica.... 4.79 Silica 3.60 

Manganese 1.14 

Lime, magnesia, and alu- 
mina 3,32 

99.99 100.00 

Specific gravity, 4.952. 

Professor Emmons found neither alumina, man- 
ganese, or lime, nor was he able to detect sulphu- 
ret of iron, and does not believe the ore contains 
aii}^ foreign substance that would be injurious to 
its manufacture. 

The specimens of which the above is the analy- 
sis were no doubt taken from the central part of 
the vein. 

The specimen submitted to Prof. Schaeffer was 
taken from beyond the vein, as it contains silex 
and manganese in some quantity. Professor Mor- 
fit' s analysis of another portion exhibits nearly 
the same result : 

By Professor Schaepfer. By Professor Morfit. 

Peroxide of iron 56.4 Peroxide of iron 43.00 

Silica 36.4 Silica 37.30 

Manga'e and earthy matter 17.3 Metallic manganese 7.99 

Lime, magnesia and alu- 
mina 18 13 

Oxygen with iron 15.69 

100 99.83 

Specific gravity 4.52 and 4.42. 



COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 171 

It is quite evident tliat tlie above specimens 
were talien from different parts of the vein, and 
tlierefore the impurities appear. The first deter- 
mination is to be taken as to the analysis of tlie 
pure ore, and the latter as that lying beyond the 
vein. 

Professor Schaeffer found this ore excessively 
hard ; sufficiently so to scratch glass, and difficult 
to pulverize. Some traces of a metal were pre- 
cipitated from the acid solution by sulphurated 
hydrogen, which he believes was lead. 

"^This ore can be transported for manufacture on 
the Deej) river, or sent down the Cape Fear to 
Wilmington to be shipped to a northern market. 

Thus it will be perceived that there is no want 
of iron ores of the finest kind for manufacturing 
the best quality of iron, and all that is required 
is limestone ; but this is not to be found in the 
coal field of sufficient purity to be used. There 
are hydraulic limestones found in the shaft at 
Egypt, but they contain a great deal of magnesia. 
Analyzed by Professor Emmons, I find its contents 
as follows : 

Silex 16.20 

Carbonate of lime 42.600 

Carbonate of magnesia 16.004 

Iron 19.380 

Alumina 0.750 

Water 2. 

96.934 

A limestone bed occurs at Evander Mclver's, 
but it does not appear to contain much lime, and 
slacked very slowly ; none of it is crystallized, 
and from the analysis of Professor Emmons, it 
contains a larger proportion of magnesia than the 



172 COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

foregoing obtained from tlie shaft at Egypt, as 
follows : 

Carbonate of lime 46.00 

Carbonate of magnesia 28. 70 

Silex 10.40 

Water 3.40 

Protoxide of iron 5.60 

Bitumen loss 0.00 



A strata of magnesian limestone crops out in 
the neighborhood of Evans' mills. Its strike is 
to the northward and westward. 

Although there may be no limestone in this 
valley suited for the fluxes of the ores of iron, 
yet it can be readily obtained by the return boats 
from some of the deposits on the Cape Pear river, 
below Fayetteville, where shell lime exists in 
great quantities. 

The composition of the calcareous shales, ac- 
cording to Professor Emmons, is as follows, viz : 

Carbonate of lime 35.50 

Magnesia 9.25 

Alumina and protoxide of iron 15.70 

Water 2. 59 

Insoluble , 36.88 

99.93 



Copper. — Several copper mines, lying on the 
northeast, near Rocky river, coming up through 
the metamorphic slates, have been discovered, and 
have iDroved very rich. I did not visit the locali- 
ties, but saw a large number of barrels on their 
way to the north. It was the yellow and gray 
sulphuret, they informed me. 

In speaking of the manufacture of iron, I must 
mention that charcoal can be had in any quantity 



COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 173 

and at a very low price, as tlie virgin forest yet 
exists in the neighborhood of the Deep River 
district ; and those engaged in the nse and man- 
ufacture of iron know that the best kinds of iron 
cannot be produced without this article, and that 
neither the anthracite nor bituminous coals, nor 
coke, can compare with it. 

It is thought by those who have great expe- 
rience in the manufacture of iron that there is no 
locality on the eastern side of the Alleghanies 
where a better article of iron can be produced 
than in the Deep River district, and at less cost. 
Its iDroximi ty to market gives it great advantages 
for becoming a large manufacturing district, 
which must be the case, from the weight and 
bulk of the coal and iron and its cost in trans- 
portation ; besides, it will prove far more 
economical and profitable to manufacture articles 
on the spot. 

I am of opinion that very little, if any, coal 
will be sent to market from this district, unless 
for use in generating gas, which may be able to 
afford the price it will command for the manufac- 
ture of iron. 

There are few places to be found in our country 
where there is such a concentration of material, 
and which can be mined with so little toil and ex- 
X)ense ; an abundance of the best fuel, consisting 
of charcoal, and the mineral coals susceptible of 
being advantageously coked, and in great quan- 
tity and variety for all puriDoses of the arts, as 
well as domestic uses ; fire clays for refractory 
furnaces ; building materials of sandstone, gneiss 
and granite ; millstone grit, and fine sandstone for 
grindstones ; clays and sands for the manufacture 
of glass and porcelain. Of the latter class there 



174 COAL AND lEON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

is a large tract near Jones' Falls — a part of the 
plantation of Captain Bryan. 

Steatite, or soapstone, and agalmatolite are 
found in extensive masses in Chatliani county, 
near Hancock' s mills, in alternate beds with the 
metamorphic slates. The latter is of exceedingly 
fine and compact grain, and has a very soft and 
soapy feeling, and is of a greenish white color. 
It is different in composition from the steatite or 
soapstone, and is of a much finer grain. It can 
be ai3plied to the same uses ; but that which has 
been quarried in Chatham county has been ground 
at Stuart's mills, on the Deep river, to a powder 
as fine as flour, and exported to New York, where 
it is used for clarifying sugar. It sells for $1 8 or 
$20 a ton ; but in Carolina I was told that it was 
believed to be used for the adulteration of paints 
or soaps, and for a cosmetic. Its composition is 
given by Professor Emmons from an analysis of 
Jackson, as follows : 

Silex 73.00 

Alumina 18.76 

Potash 2.00 

Water 3 .55 

97.21 

Roofing slates are found on Rocky river, nea.r 
the residence of Mr. Johnson. Specimens were 
brought me of some size and suitable thickness. 
They were of a light slate color, compact, and 
appeared to split smooth and even. 

I had no time to visit the quarry, but learned 
from reliable authority that it was well situated 
near the forks and above water level, and could 
be easily obtained. 

Timber. — The Deep River country is the divid- 



COAL AND lEON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 17o 

ing line between the alluvial and ijrimitive for- 
mation. The change of vegetation has a well- 
defined outline, the long leafed j)ine lying on the 
south, and the oaks and other timber on the 
north. Our examination of the timber extended 
not only over the Deep River country above de- 
scribed, but over many miles surrounding it. This 
examination proved conclusively that there was 
but a small quantity of large oak'^and other timber 
required for naval purposes. There are consider- 
able quantities of the middle size, which is well 
adapted for the construction of vessels and ma- 
chinery. 

Most of the country has been cleared, and the 
large timber cut down or fallen ; the few left 
standing are partially decayed and useless. 

As the country is becoming more settled, and 
improvements are progressing, this timber will 
fast disappear. On the south the virgin pine 
forest yet exists, of which kind of timber there 
is an abundant supply of all sizes. 

In the examination of this district the water- 
power claimed much of my attention. It has 
been previously mentioned that the Deep River 
has been dammed, to effect its slack-water navi- 
gation. These dams are five in number, with a 
fall of thirty feet, and the water is set back at 
the upper pool as far as Woomble branch. Be- 
yond this is the Hancock mills, which is the 
only one I shall include in the Dee^^ River district. 
The last dam is at Evans' Bridge, where there is 
a lock, and several mills for grain, etc. The next 
dam below is at the Gulf, and has a large flour 
mill, as well as carding machines, owned by Mr. 
Lawrence Haughton The third is at the bend 
of "^he river, below Egypt, where the fall is 



176 COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

about seven feet. There is no mill yet erected at 
this place. The fourth is at Clegg's, below the 
Rocky River, and the fifth and lowest is at Jones' 
Falls. Here they are improving the water pow- 
er, and several mills are being repaired and con- 
structed. This fall is two and a half miles from 
the Cape Fear river. Tliis slack- water navigation 
is uninterrupted, as will also be the mills, during 
the entire year. 

Besides this water power on the Deep River, 
there are very many sites on the Haw, Rocky, 
and Cape Fear rivers ; and on most of the creeks 
leading into the Deep River, there are mills for 
grinding the cereals and sawing the timber, of 
great convenience, as well as of advantage, to the 
country. 

We now come to the consideration of the 
accessibility of this district or the ways and means 
of transporting its materials to the markets of the 
world. 

The first which claimed my attention was the 
slack-water navigation of the Cape Fear and Deep 
rivers. This is effected through the construction 
of nineteen dams and locks, from Jones' Falls, 
on the Cape Fear, to above that at Evans' bridge, 
the pool of which latter reaches the Woomble 
branch of the Deep River. The whole distance is 
ninety-eight miles, and the height overcome 204 
feet. 

Below Fayetteville, some eight miles, the shoals 
of the Cape Fear river are encountered. When 
drought prevails there is not a sufliciency of water 
over these shoals to float a steamer drawing more 
than eighteen inches water. 

These shoals it is thought could be avoided 
l^y a canal around them or deepened by a sluice. 



COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 17/ 

The river is navigable for ten months in the year, 
and boats used on the river and slack-water 
navigation can then pass free from all detention, 

Steamboats ply daily between Wilmington and 
Fayetteville, a distance of 100 miles in twelve 
hours, and those of small size will be employed 
to tow the barges on the slack-w^ater navigation. 

Besides their slack-water navigation the citi- 
zens of Fayetteville have undertaken to construct 
a railroad direct to the coal fields, with the inten- 
tion of carrying it on to the junction with the 
Central road, near High Point, and have pushed 
its structure with great energy and perseverance. 

Other improvements are projected; among them 
a railroad from the coal fields to Raleigh, a dis- 
tance of some thirty miles. The route is a most 
favorable one, and will make another connection 
Avith the Central road, also with the Gaston and 
Raleigh, and through it with the Seaboard and 
Roanoke, which will place the coal fields into di- 
rect communication of a few hours with Norfolk. 

Besides the above, there will be a connection 
with the harbor of Beaufort, by the Central road 
to Goldsboro', and thence, by the Newbern and 
Morehead City, to that point. The distance of 
both the above routes is less than 200 miles. 
There is also a connection talked of between 
Fayetteville and Warsaw, on the Wilmington and 
Weldon, and from the latter, by a branch road, 
at Kinston, which will give another route. 

On leaving the Deep River district I took the 
plank road from the Gulf to Fayetteville, a dis- 
tance of fifty miles, in a southerly direction. 
The country is very sparsely settled, andisgener- 
ally covered by the virgin forest of long leaf pine. 
But few of the trees have been "boxed." The 



178 COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

country rises until the plantation of A. Sclieriner- 
horn is readied, where it is four hundred feet 
above the level, and forms the dividing line of 
waters flowing north and south. Here the Gulf 
plank road joins that from Fayetteville to Ash- 
boro', in Randolph county. 

From Schermerhorn's to Wilmington there is 
a regular series of undulations, not unlike the 
ground- swell of the ocean, extending to within a 
few miles of Fayetteville, and these undulations 
tend east and west and appear to extend over this 
whole section of country ; lie directly across the 
line of railroad, running nearly north and south ; 
consequently require heavy, deep cutting. In 
one of these, about ten miles from Fayetteville, 
the substratum has been reached, corresponding 
to the surface undulations, and exposing to view 
the tenacious and unctuous blue clay of which it 
is composed. 

The country, to within a few miles of Fayette- 
ville, continues to be well wooded wdth the long 
leaf pine ; the soil is sandy, though occasionally 
we passed over some of the sandstone, or tlie 
"hard pan rock," of the country, (and which 
frequently caps the undulations spoken of above). 
It is of a dark brown or reddish color, is used in 
building, and is a cheap and easy wrought ma- 
terial, but cannot bear exposure to heat. 

Fayetteville is well situated on the north side 
of Rockfish creek, some 72 feet above the level of 
the Cai3e Fear river, when at its lowest stages. 
During freshets the river rises 50 feet, but these 
pass off rapidly. On the Rockfish creek and the 
streams there is excellent water power, on which 
a number of mills have been established for the 
manufacture of cotton, paper, etc. 



COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 179 

Having given the details of the examination of 
the Deep river countrj^, its coal, iron, and timber, 
I shall consider that part of the resolntion of the 
Senate relative to the " expediency of establish- 
ing, at some point in the State, machine and 
workshops for the constructing of engines, boilers, 
etc., etc., for naval vessels." The contents of 
this report fully establish the fact that there is an 
abundance of the raw materials for the manufac- 
ture of iron of the very best description, for use 
in the construction of engines and boilers for 
naval vessels ; that, with the exception of the 
largest size of timber, there is also an abundance 
of that material for use in the construction of im- 
plements of wood employed on naval vessels, and 
there is no doubt that all these materials can be 
obtained at less cost and of superior quality than 
elsewhere in the eastern section of the United 
States. This could be accomplished either by the 
government erecting furnaces for the reduction of 
the ores, or by encouragement offered for the 
best kinds of iron, etc., for these purposes. 

There can be no doubt of the expediency of 
having the indestructible materials used in our 
steam navy, of the very best kind, constantly on 
hand, to meet the wants of the steam service ; and 
I can see no difficulty in the government estab- 
lishing machine and woi'kshops for the construc- 
tion of all the parts of the engines and plates for 
boilers, as well as workshops for the making of 
implements required, of wood, in the naval service. 

As to the expediency of establishing these at 
some point in the State of North Carolina, you 
will be able to come to a correct conclusion npon 
the subject, now that all the facts are laid before 
you. 



180 COAL AI^D IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Our attention being specially directed to the 
Deep river country, we have a better knowledge 
of it than any other part of the State ; and we 
believe that no other portion of North Carolina 
can offer so many advantages for the manufacture 
of iron as the Deep river district. Besides an 
abundance of raw material, there is both water 
and steam-power at command. The climate is 
salubrious and the country healthy ; all kinds of 
provisions abundant and cheap. The agricul- 
tural products consist of wheat, corn, rye, and 
oats. Vegetables and fruits are to be had in their 
season, in plenty and of line kinds. 

The great advantages it offers to the miner and 
manufacturer of iron will insure a large popula- 
tion of those engaged in these pursuits. It is also 
desirable for the agriculturist ; finer crops are 
seldom seen than those which fell under our ob- 
servation, on the bottom lands, bordering the 
ravines and creeks, and they seldom fail. 

The temperature neither partakes of the ex- 
tremes of Avinter or summer ; and those who have 
passed many years there enjoyed excellent health. 
Although constantly exposed during the months 
of August and September, in the hottest weather, 
I felt little inconvenience and no debility from 
the effects of heat after I reached this district. 
The navigation of the river is never closed by ice, 
and travel on the railroads rarely interrupted. 

The distance from Washington is less than 24 
hours by rail, and when the contemplated im- 
provements are finished there will be means of 
transportation north, south, east, and west. 

I herewith submit copies of the reports of Chief 
Engineers Hunt and D. B. Martin, and Naval 
Constructor S. M. Pook, to me, relative to the 



COAL AND IRON OF NORTH CAROLINA. 181 

fullillment of the duties assigned them in the ex- 
amination of the Deep river district. It affords 
me pleasure to state that their duties were per- 
formed to my entire satisfaction. 

I annex a map of the Deep river district, pre- 
pared by myself, to which reference has been 
made in the body of this report. 

I have the honor to be, with great respect, 
CHARLES WILKES, 

Captain United States Navy ^ Chief of Com^ n, 

Hon. Isaac Toucey, 

Secretary of the Navy, Washington. 



PART II. 
COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 



OF 



NORTH CAROLINA. 



Piedmont and the Mountains. 



[As seen by a New Englander.] 

There are two sections of North Carolina espec- 
ially worthy the attention of those citizens of the 
temperate zone, who for any canse wish to change 
their place of residence. One of these is the 
Piedmont, the other the Mountain region. If the 
reader will draw a line on the map from Virginia 
through Raleigh to the Georgia border, all the 
country lying west of that to the Blue Ridge 
Mountains may be considered the first division, 
while all that extensive territory beyond the Blue 
Ridge to the Summit of the Unaka or Great 
Smoky Range, comprises the Second or Mountain 
Division. In these two vast sections of the State 
are to be found grander opportunities for the safe 
investment of capital that will speedily prove 
largely remunerative, and for the planting of colo- 
nies of farmers and mechanics, than any where 
else in the United States. While the Piedmont 
Region is well settled by a thrifty and prosperous 
people, it is by no means crowded. Tens of 
thousands of acres of virgin soil and numerous 
extensive tracts of woodland await the coming of 
purchasers who will improve them. The cities, 
towns and farming settlements are inhabited by a 
sensible, energetic and neighborly race of Ameri- 



186 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 

cans, most of whom have made themselves pros- 
perous by their own thrift and industry, aided 
by the salubrity of the climate, the excellence of 
the soil, the abundance of unfailing water powers, 
and access to market over perfected systems of 
railways. Wheat, corn, rye, oats, barley, cotton 
and tobacco, are among the staples of agriculture, 
while apples, peaches, apricots, plums, cherries 
and small fruits flourish there with much greater 
certainty of annual crops than in any State north 
of Maryland. As compared with Springfield, 
Massachusetts, the climate of Charlotte is from 
six to eight weeks earlier in the spring, and the 
frosts of fall are two or three weeks later. The 
Piedmont railroad and its connecting lines afford 
quick transit for passengers and freight to the 
cities of the Gulf States, to the mountains by way 
of Asheville, and to Charleston, Wilmington, 
Richmond and Norfolk, as may be desired. There 
is scarcely a railroad town in New England, New 
York or Ohio that is not within forty-eight hours 
journey of all the railway stations of this Pied- 
mont region. In the j)rincipal towns are good 
schools and academies ; religious privileges for 
votaries of all the leading sects ; and stores well 
stocked with every class of merchandise. Besides 
all this the people are glad to welcome new comers 
and to share freely with them the multiplied 
blessings they enjoy. There is no such thing 
as ostracism on account of religious or political 
creeds. The North Carolinians believe in free 
thought and free speech, in working for a living, 
and in maintaining social relations with all decent 
people, but they have no use for vagabonds or 
rogues. Many of the people of this section have 
gone there from New England since the war, or 



OF NOKTH CAEOLINA. 187 

are descendants of those who emigrated earlier, 
and such hold in kind regard the States where 
their fathers and mothers were born. There 
is nothing of that false display in which those 
who have suddenly attained wealth too often in- 
dulge, but the richest people live without osten- 
tation, while the majority belong to that middle 
class which is really the cream of American 
society. The evidences of quiet refinement to be 
seen at E-aleigh, Durham, Greensboro and Char- 
lotte, are characteristic of the people, and no one 
traveling among them for several months can 
conclude otherwise than that the ancient petition, 
" Give me neither poverty nor riches," has been 
generally offered and answered. 

The leading industries of this section, outside 
of agriculture and horticulture, are the mining of 
iron and coal, manufacturing of woollen and 
cotton fabrics, merchandising, lumbering, getting 
out hubs, spokes, rims, shuttle-blocks and tool 
handles ; cotton-seed oil mills ; and the manu- 
facture of all forms of tobacco from the very rich 
and valuable leaf which grows only in this State. 
Since the war several of these industries have 
risen at a rapid rate, and have poured steady 
streams of wealth among the people. Little cross- 
road villages have been transformed into large 
and prosperous boroughs, in which blocks of brick 
warehouses and stores, fine school-houses and 
churches, and numerous tasteful residences, have 
supplanted the few miserable shanties and their 
poverty stricken inmates that w^ere to be seen in 
the same localities in 1865. The collection and 
shipment of dried fruits and of medicinal herbs 
are also important industries which bring into the 
state annually from one to two millions of dollars. 



188 COAL AND IKON COUNTIES 

All these things are but the beginning of what 
may be. 

Cattle, sheep, poultry, horses and mules, could 
be raised with large profit on many a tract of land 
long owned but never improved. 

Manufacturers of farm wagons, of tinware, of 
boots and shoes, of agricultural implements, of 
cheap furniture are wanted. Good machine 
shops, well appointed and run by skilled work- 
men, would pay. But above all, there might be 
ten farmers and horticulturists for every one there 
is now, besides fruit and vegetable canners, and a 
host of others with some money and that exper- 
ience which is better than money, to introduce 
and carry to success their respective trades. 

One of the principal gold belts of the state 
runs through this section with many mines in 
operation. Those fond of this fascinating and 
uncertain pursuit can find no better place in 
which to prospect, and a few will make rich 
strikes as others have done before them, but the 
bright leaf tobacco of Granville and a dozen 
other counties will annually draw more gold from 
the sun and soil than all the mines in the state 
combined. Most of these mines of precious ores 
have required the expenditure of large sums of 
money for their development, but the farm lands 
of the state are more sure in the long run of pay- 
ing handsome annual x)rofits to their owners, and 
but a few hundred dollars are sufficient capital 
for an industrious beginner. In this section wild 
lands and old fields can be bought at from five 
dollars an acre upwards to $200, the price de- 
pending on the quality of the soil, the extent of 
improvements, and the nearness of railway 
stations and market towns. Some exceedingly 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 189 

desirable sites for settlements may be found in 
near proximity to the Western North Carolina 
road, between Salisbury and Henry's, the latter 
the last station before climbing the Blue Ridge 
over the most astonishing piece of railroad con- 
struction known to engineering science. The 
towns of Statesville, Hickory, Morganton and 
others that have sprung up by the side of the 
same road within a dozen years, are more like 
modern western than old time southern settle- 
ments in their rapid growth, extensive business, 
and the good taste, enterprise and public spirit of 
their citizens. Other roads, acting as feeders to 
this great and costly through line, are fast open- 
ing up counties between it and Virginia, where 
land may be obtained at lower prices, and where 
climate, soil and i3eople have the same general 
characteristics that have already been noted. 
South of the Western North Carolina road and 
running to some point of intersectioQ with it, 
several other roads are under construction that 
will eventually enter the mountains by one of the 
many gaps on the eastern and southern front 
of the Blue Ridge, while others are projected 
whose building is merely a question of time. 
The entire North Carolina frontage of the 
mountain range and the land between that 
and the imaginary line extending north and 
south from Raleigh, will repay examination, 
whether the visitor be a tourist "on pleasure 
bent," a capitalist looking out for profitable 
investments, or a farmer, grazier^ manufacturer 
or artisan, seeking a suitable location for busi- 
ness and a home. 

No man, and especially no native of the States 
north of the Potomac and Ohio rivers, or of 



190 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 

Europe or Canada, ought to decide upon a per- 
manent location until he has visited that moun- 
tain division of North Carolina which lies between 
the two grand ranges of the vast Appalachian 
system. This magnificent section of the State is 
very thinly settled, except in a few widely remote 
localities, and much of it is in a condition of 
primeval nature. The capitals of the different 
counties are, with the exception of Asheville, 
small villages of a few hundred inhabitants, with 
a square brick court house in the centre, around 
which are the stores, churches, hotels, dwelling 
houses, schools, smithies, and other small shops, 
which supply the needs of the i^eople. The 
Western North Carolina railroad, having climbed 
the mountains by way of Swanannoa Gap, de- 
scends easily to Asheville on the banks of the 
beautiful French Broad river, and thence runs 
northward to the celebrated Warm Springs, where 
connection is made with a branch line of the East 
Tennessee, Virginia, and Georgia system. The 
main line continues westwardly from Asheville, 
and runs daily trains from and to Pigeon River. 
Most of the grading has been done between there 
and Charleston, the capital of Swain County, 
and there is nothing of consequence to prevent 
the company from reaching that iplace before 
Christmas. Some miles west of Pigeon River 
station, the road strikes the Tuckaseege, a branch 
of the Tennessee, and follows the valley of that 
stream to its mouth, twelve miles west of Charles- 
ton. At that point the road will continue down 
the Tennessee, crossing the great Smoky Moun- 
tains at the State line, and thence, turning to the 
north, it will run to Marysville, thus cornpleting 
a long projected connection with Knoxville and 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 191 

the west, by means of tlie railway already in 
operation between that city and Marysville. At 
the same time a grading force is at work on an- 
other important thoroughfare which is to connect 
the Knoxville extension with the famous Duck- 
town copper district of Tennessee ; with the nar- 
row gauge road rapidly nearing completion from 
Marietta, Georgia ; and with the broad gauge 
that, starting at Athens, Georgia, carried thou- 
sands of passengers to Tallulah Falls last year, 
and will soon be pushed forward to Rabun Gap, 
and to the head waters of the Tennessee river, 
which stream it will follow to the mouth of the 
Tuckaseege, where it will effect a junction with 
the main western line as already described. An- 
other road, starting from Spartanburg, South 
Carolina, has been in operation a number of years 
between that place and Hendersonville, the capi- 
tal of Henderson County, which must at no dis- 
tant day be finished either to some point near 
Pigeon river, or else to Asheville, in either case 
making a tolerably direct through route between 
Charleston and the great west, a matter of no 
mean importance to the mountaineers as well 
as to the people of South Carolina. 

The natural resources of these mountains, if 
fully described, would require a large volume to 
do them even moderate justice. They may b© 
divided into four distinct groups, under the 
head of forest, mineral, and vegetable products, 
and water powers. Of the first it is suf- 
ficient to say that nine- tenths of the entire 
region is covered with forests, in which are 
nearly all the varieties of trees needed for build- 
ing, manufacturing, and ornamental purposes to 
be found in any State east of the Rocky Moun- 



192 COAL AXD IRON COUNTIES 

tains. White pine, balsam, hemlock, hickory, 
ash, black walnut, chestnut, maple, birch, pop- 
lar, linn, locust, oaks of every kind, cherry of 
enormous size, spruce, cedar, gum, maples, laurel, 
butternut, persimmon, and dogwood (of which 
hundreds of thousands of shuttle blocks are sent 
north annually from the Piedmont district), and 
many other kinds. Since the Western North 
Carolina road has been in operation from Salis- 
bury to Asheville and Pigeon river, a great im- 
petus has been given to the black walnut 
trade, and hundreds of car-loads have been 
shipped both to the west and to the Atlantic 
coast, much of the latter having been or- 
dered from France while the trees were still 
standing in their native forests. The poplar of 
this section is highly prized for many purposes, 
the trees often growing to an enormous size and 
admitting of three or four cuts of twelve feet 
each, below the branches. Within two years 
thousands of logs have been cut on the banks of 
the Tuckaseege, and floated down that stream 
and the Tennessee river, to be put into merchant- 
able shape by the saw mills in the vicinity of 
Chattanooga, which are owned by some wealthy 
lumbermen from Michigan. For a number of 
years before the war some German cabinet mak- 
ers had a factory at Asheville, and produced fine 
work from the native woods of that vicinity, 
which was carted hundreds of m»iles over the 
rough mountain roads and sold at a high profit to 
the wealthy inhabitants of North Carolina and 
Virginia. The civil war broke up that establish- 
ment, and the skilled artisans were employed at 
the large Confederate armory in Columbia, South 
Carolina, in making gun stocks. After peace was 



OP NORTH CAEOLINA. 193 

declared these men scattered, and the Asheville 
factory ceased to be. What was done by those 
Germans under the most unfavorable conditions 
could be repeated now without any of the disad- 
vantages under which they labored, and there are 
hundreds of places in the mountains where all 
requisites for manufacturing either low-priced or 
expensive furniture may be had in close jDroxim- 
ity to unfailing water powers and to railroad trans- 
portation. 

The minerals of this moun' ain country are iron 
in all forms of the ore ; copper, alone or in com- 
bination with other metals ; gold in dust, coarse 
grains, and nuggets, in quartz, and in nearly all 
other forms ; silver, which has been found with 
copi)er and galena, but not as yet in large quan- 
tities ; manganese ; lead ; nickel ; chrome ores ; 
precious stones ; asbestos ; corundum (of which 
hundreds of tons are sent annually to VVoburn, 
Massachusetts) ; marble, in every variety from 
pure white to that beautiful translucent pink 
which has been called "North Carolina onyx ;" 
mica (which was known to the mound builders 
centuries before the white race effected a lodg- 
ment in North America) ; soaps tone, from white 
to a bluish gray ; talc ; potter's clay, of every 
known quality ; flexible sandstone (said to be the 
matrix of the*^ diamond) ; ochres of many tints, 
and mineral paints ; as also staurolites and many 
other of the curiosities of mineralogy which have 
no practical value. Two vast bodies of iron ores 
of remarkable purity have been traced for many 
continuous miles, and one of them in the north- 
western corner of the State, near the Tennessee 
border, has recently been developed on an exten- 
sive scale. This, which is known as the Cran- 



194 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 

berry ore, has certain peculiarities which have 
made it famous among mineralogists and iron 
smelters all over the world. The other is a lim- 
onite ore of remarkable purity, which exiends 
across the entire length of Cherokee (the south- 
western count}^ of the State,) and crops out at fre- 
quent intervals for thirty miles south of the 
Georgian border. Smelted and hammered into 
bars by the use of charcoal hres only, it is trans- 
formed into a pure steel of extraordinary strength 
and ductility. Although used by the whites ejer 
since they began to settle the country, it has 
never been mined or manufactured on a large 
scale, because of its distance from market, and 
the expense of trans^Dortation. Within twelve 
months the Marietta and North Georgia railroad 
will run through the centre of a large part of this 
iron district, and a number of Northern gentle- 
men who have bought extensive tracts of this 
iron territory will soon build smelting furnaces 
and set bodies of miners at work. As soon as 
their operations are fairly started, there will be a 
grand chance for others in their immediate vicin- 
ity, such as plow, scythe and hoe manufac- 
turers ; shops for making all kinds and sizes of 
nuts and bolts, of nails, of hollow ware, of stoves, 
and of all such articles made from iron as are 
produced by machinery assisted mainly by un- 
skilled labor. 

^he vegetable resources of this region cover an 
extensive range of subjects. Omitting the medic- 
inal plants, roots, barks, berries and leaves, of 
which more than two thousand kinds are gathered 
annually for Wallace & Sons, of Statesville, who 
sui3j)iy the greatest drug houses of America and 
Europe with these natural medicines, and the nu- 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 195 

merous barks and weeds bought for their excel- 
lence for either tanning or dyeing, there are oth- 
ers of greater value. The sweet herbs and succu- 
lent grasses of the mountains afford the best of 
pasturage for horses, cattle and sheei3, for eight 
months of the year, while the mast of the count- 
less oaks, beeches, chestnuts and chinquapins are 
equally abundant and nutritious for hogs and for 
domestic fowls. Many mountain farmers keep 
their stock on the range the year round, but there 
is no economy in that course, for the losses they 
experience in the long run are much greater than 
all that they save. Nature has made this a grand 
region for stock, which thus far has escaped the 
various epidemic diseases that afflict other cattle- 
breeding sections of the Union, and were one 
quarter the care bestowed upon them from the 
middle of December to the first of March that 
Ohio and Illinois farmers give to their stock, the 
North Carolina stock raisers' profits would be 
more than doubled. This is a matter of much 
greater importance than it used to be, for as rail- 
roads open the country and bring manufacturing 
industries in their train, a local demand for beef 
and mutton will be created, while the large cities 
of all the cotton-growing States will be constant 
customers. Besides the native grasses and suc- 
culent herbs already referred to, there are at least 
eight kinds of wild peas found in the mountains, 
which in both vine and fruit are excellent fatten- 
ing food, of which hogs and all kinds of cattle are 
very fond. For human use there are wild plums 
of several kinds, grai^es of many varieties from 
the little fox, that seems to be the same wherever 
found, to some large and luscious kinds as well 
worthy of jproi^agation, as the Scuppernong or the 



196 COAL AND IKON COUNTIES 

Catawba. One of these, which was found in the 
woods near Murphy by Professor William Beal, 
was transplanted, and after cultivation had proved 
its great merits, it was carefully j)ropagated, and 
now there are many vines of it to be found fes- 
tooning the cabins of the mountaineers, who call 
it ''the Cherokee," the name given by its dis- 
coverer. Next to the graxDe in importance is the 
blackberry, of which there are three kinds, the 
white, the low bush, and the high vines. The 
fruit of the last, when cultivated at all, is equal 
in size to the Kittatiny and surpasses it in sweet- 
ness and flavor. It is an enormous bearer, and as 
it is easily and rajDidly gathered and dried, tons 
of it are saved and bartered at the country stores 
for other merchandise. 

The water powers of the mountain and Pied- 
mont sections ought to have a chapter to them- 
selves, but in this paper there is room for but a 
X3assing reference. In the former they are more 
numerous, in the latter, as a rule, they carry 
much greater power. It has been estimated by 
a careful scientist, that there are unemployed 
water powers in the State, the aggregate of which 
would represent a greater number of horse j)owers 
than all the locomotives and steam engines com- 
bined now running on this continent. This has at 
first sight the api^earance of a Munchausenisni,but 
after months of observation, this Avriter has been 
compelled to acknowledge that the eminent 
gentleman to whom that statement was imputed 
was entirely within bounds. In the mountains 
there are large and small falls that can be utilized 
for every manufacturing purpose, and in most cases 
without the need of costly dams to be constructed 
and kept in repair. Riding through the country 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 197 

one comes frequently iij)on a little log building 
called in the vernacular *'a mercliant mill," over 
wliose lai'ge breast wheel a small stream of water, 
clear as crystal, is pouring, which lias been diverted 
from its native brook by a narrow ditch, often not 
more than fifty yards long, only to join its parent 
waters again after doing its share of the miller's 
work. These little mills grind the wheat and 
corn of the neighborhood, and often are of so 
small capacity that twenty-five bushels is con- 
sidered a good day's work. They are always 
X)icturesque, but never more so than when tended 
by the miller's daughter, usually a bright eyed, 
fair faced maiden, who looks shyly up from be- 
neath her sun bonnet for a glance at the passing 
stranger, and then turns to the hopper again and 
attends to business. Another frequent sight in 
these mountains is that of a strapping bare-footed 
merry boy, w^histling as he tramps along the road 
with his sack thrown over his shoulder, a half 
bushel of corn in each end ' ' to keep the balance 
true. ' ' How many ' 'matches are made in heaven, ' ' 
these mills being the portals thereto, who can tell ? 
But besides these small branches with their fre- 
quent falls, there are many large creeks and rivers 
that can be made to do duty in the same way, 
and when railroads shall be finished, mines 
opened, furnaces built, and factories erected, the 
roaring cataracts whose eternal thunders fill the 
forest Avitli their grand diapasons, will be tamed 
to man's use, and help to swell that sublime or- 
chestra of trip-hammers and anvils, of saws, looms, 
and clattering machinery, that together make the 
music of modern civilization, and of science ap- 
plied to the practical arts. 
The mountaineers of IS'orth Carolina are a 



198 COAL AND lEON COUNTIES 

sturdy race sprung from no ordinary stock. 
Among them, as in all communities, are some 
lazy and shiftless people, whose only care is to 
fill their bellies with the least possible outlay of 
labor and to build a new cabin close to the timber 
as soon as fire wood has to be hauled any distance. 
Then there are the " dog and gun men ' ' that keep 
beyond the confines of that advancing population 
that drives the game from its fastnesses, and 
spoils their hunting. Mixed with these, but not 
of them, are a few outlaws from the circle of 
States around them, who may be wanted for some 
outrage, and, therefore, take up a residence in a 
well chosen spot from which in a day they can 
retreat to Tennessee, Georgia, or South Carolina, 
as prudence may at the time direct. Soon after 
the war these outlaws were numerous in the west- 
ern counties, but the people made the country too 
hot for their habitation, and they have ceased to 
exist as a class. Desperadoes of this kind were 
numerous before the suppression of illicit distil- 
ling, but since that has been accomplished by the 
united efforts of the State authorities and the 
revenue officers, the local law has been sufficient 
to free the country to a great extent from these 
dangerous classes. As the mountain climate and 
soil was not suited to large plantations, very few 
negroes ever lived there, and the gregarious habits 
of that race, as well as the comparatively cool 
winters, have kept them from settling there in 
any considerable numbers since they became free. 
The mountaineers who constitute the majority of 
the population are a tall, handsome, athletic race, 
shrewd to a degree, fond of a joke, hospitable, 
proud, eager to have their country aiDpreciated 
by strangers, and longing for the day when rail- 



OF XOKTII CAEOLINA. 199 

roads and increased population shall give them 
more privileges, and a greater zest to their quiet 
lives. They especially long for northern men to 
settle among them and to start the various trades 
of which they have heard much, but know little. 
They are honest, religious after their fashion, can 
generally read and write, but have very little ]30ok 
learning, or that knowledge of the great outside 
w^orld obtained from newspapers and periodicals. 
In the country towns there are neat frame houses, 
occasional gardens, and in some instances a few 
home adornments. There is usually an academy 
in which all are taught, from a. b. c. classes, to 
the youth pursuing classical studies. The farm 
houses are generally log cabins which tell the 
history of the family. One comparatively new 
will have a single room and a lean-to, in which 
all indoor life is transacted. That belongs to a 
young couple recently started together on life's 
journey. As children increase, (and the climate 
and soil dispose to fecundity) more room is re- 
quired, and a second cabin is put beside the first, 
the space between being roofed over for the family 
loom. After a while one of the girls is married, 
and a third cabin is laiilt next beyond the second, 
and a new family is started. Beyond this the 
mountaineer seldom g-ets, but his porch extends 
from the old cabin to the second and then to the 
third, so that all meet daily on a common plat- 
form. When a mountaineer lives on a road dis- 
tant from taverns, he often arranges his domestic 
alfairs so as to entertain strangers, and it is no 
unusual thing for several beds to be set up in one 
room, the man and his wife occupying the first, 
the children cuddled into the second, and the 
stranger in the third, but everything is managed 



200 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 

with a homely delicacy that makes one unaccus- 
tomed to this style of living feel quite at ease. 

The princijjal agricultural products are corn, 
wheat, rye, oats, cowpeas, beans, Irish x^otatoes, 
yams and sweet potatoes, sorghum syrup, 
cabbages (rarely onions and tomatoes, though 
both do well), butter, eggs and honey. Nearly 
every farm has peach and apple trees, the first 
generally yielding fair crops and the last never 
failing. During the summer, the drying of these 
and of blackberries takes nearly all the sj)are 
time of every member of the household, for these, 
with feathers, eggs, butter, honey in the comb, 
the medicinal herbs gathered, and the wool not 
carded for the family loom, are all taken to the 
store to be exchanged for sugar, coffee, snuff, and 
such few other things as they must buy. The 
wives of the mountaineers have a much harder 
life, than their husbands, for in the absence of 
help they have all the ordinaiy work of the family 
to do, besides the carding, spinning, and weaving 
of the materials, and the making of all the family 
garments. They rise and, as a rule, go to bed 
with the sun. A trip to the county town once or 
twice a year, a camp meeting lasting a week, a 
birth, wedding, or funeral in the neighborhood, 
these are their recreations. In planting and har- 
vest time they often help in the fields, in addition 
to the home drudgery and the care of their chil- 
dren. Yet as a whole they are as happy and con- 
tented a body of wives and mothers as can be 
found in the land, devoted to their husbands and 
children, and knowing no better life than that in 
which they but do as their mothers and grand- 
mothers did before them. The usua\ food found 
in a mountain cabin at every meal is ashcake (a 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 201 

kind of corn bread wet up with, water, moulded 
into an oblong loaf, and baked in the ashes), 
strong coffee without milk, fried eggs, fried ba- 
con, stewed fruit, quick-raised wheat biscuits, 
sorghum syrui3, honey in the comb, buttermilk, 
and often fried chicken. Occasionally, when one 
of the boys has caught a string of trout, or the 
old man has shot a wild turkey, these come in for 
variety, but such exceptions are rare as angel's 
visits. On the porch there is always a tin basin, 
a bucket of clear water, and a nice clean roller 
towel for the ablutions of a guest. The barn, the 
cowhouse, and the cornshed are all made of logs 
put up in cobhouse style, but with a tight roof 
over them. There are small coops for brooding 
hens and sheltered places for nests, but at night 
the fruit trees and outbuildings make their 
roosting places. The bees are hived in hollow 
logs, about thirty inches high, which stand in 
long rows in sunny places near the house, and are 
called "bee-gums." Eight months in the year 
liowers bloom in these mountains, and the 
' ' gums ' ' are filled several times every season by 
these persevering little workers. It is delightful 
to stand under a wild plum, a sour wood, or a crab 
apple tree when in bloom, and hear the unceasing 
music of these busy insects as they load them- 
selves with the sweets that are to be stored in 
their hives. Not content with what is gathered 
by the willing workers in his own "gums," many 
a farmer takes a day off now and then to engage 
in the exciting sport of hunting for bee trees. 
Equipped with his bait-box, his small tin can of 
wheat flour, his keen axe, and his bucket, he en- 
ters the forest, and selecting some sunny glade 
for his venture, he deposits his bait box on a 



202 COAL ATsTD IROTT COUl^TIES 

stone, and sitting near lie watches for the coining 
of his hoped-for prey. Ere many minutes pass 
two or three bees arrive and tal^e the bait. 
Quickly he dusts them Avitli ilour, and when they 
rise he shades his eyes with his hand and notes 
the direction of their flight. Other bees have come 
meanwhile, whom he serves in the same fashion. 
If after a few minutes the first of his dusted guests 
return he knows their tree is not far distant, and 
removes his bait a few rods in that direction. 
Sometimes he is fortunate enough to find the right 
spot in a few hours ; at others he will spend days 
in the quest, and finally discover the hive in a 
crevice of the rocks, or in some huge stump, sur- 
rounded by concealing sprouts. Usually it is in 
a tall tree, with a great hollow in its interior, 
which must be felled before he can get at its con- 
tents, the accumulation of many seasons' labors. 
If he gets twenty-five or thirty pounds of comb 
he feels well-paid for his sport, but when, as is 
now and then the case, he gets a hundred weight 
or more, he exults in his success, and is for the 
time being the great man of his townshi]3. 

The pipe is the mountaineer's solace, and his 
inseparable companion; consequently nearly every 
farm has in summer its carefully tended tobacco 
patch, the leaf of which is cured and stored for 
daily use. Some three or four years ago a citizen 
of that part of the State which has long borne the 
name of " the golden belt," because of the valua- 
ble bright leaf tobacco raised there, cultivated a 
small patch of it in Buncombe County with such 
success that others took it up, and the result was 
to make Asheville an important tobacco market, 
and to distribute many hundred thousand dollars 
annually among the farmers of Buncombe and the 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 20B 

adjacent counties. Experiments made in other 
counties between Buncombe and the Georgia line 
have demonstrated the practicability of the suc- 
cessful cultivation of this species of the weed in 
all of them, and the average returns to an acre are 
so large that many farmers have begun to raise 
this crop, without waiting for railroads to be com- 
pleted to carry it to market. When transporta- 
tion is as convenient for the Southwestern coun- 
ties as it now is for those around Asheville, bright 
tobacco will be one of the staple products of that 
entire region. 

After what has been written, it seems needless 
to add that the climate of the mountain counties 
is as healthful as can be found anywhere in the 
world. Malaria is a disease never seen there ex- 
cept in the person of some invalid from the low- 
lands, whose physician has prescribed the ozone 
of the mountains as a better remedy than all the 
drugs mentioned in the dispensatory. Besides 
the pure air, the equable climate, the crystal 
waters, and the resinous balsams of the highest 
mountains, there are innumerable medicinal 
springs of more than ordinary healing virtue. 
Most extraordinary of any yet discovered are the 
Warm Springs in the north-western corner of the 
State, six miles from the Tennessee line, to which 
a train of the North Carolina Western railroad 
runs daily from Salisbury, taking passengers 
from the Richmond and Danville at that place. 
The station bears the name of the s]3rings, and 
has become a great resort for both pleasure seekers 
and invalids. Soon after the war a large hotel 
was built there, to which additions have been 
made nearly every season, not excepting the 
present. Situated in the midst of lovely scenery, 



204 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 

and tlie centre of many unique natural curiosi- 
ties, it would be a delightful summer resort, 
but with these springs as the central attraction, 
it will in time become a second Saratoga, drawing 
guests to its hotel from all parts of the continent, 
and from Europe. This place, with the beautiful 
scenery in its immediate vicinity, is but one of 
the numerous attractions of 'the mountains. 
Asheville has long been noted for the loveliness 
of its surroundings, and for the courtesy of its 
people to visitors. It has grown to be the seat of 
a large and lucrative trade with the people of 
surrounding counties, and in it are many elegant 
houses, the summer homes of families of wealth 
and refinement from both Northern and Southern 
States. There are few towns of its population in 
the Union which have a future as bright as that 
which has dawned upon this capital of Bun- 
combe County. 

Those who climb the tortuous track of the rail- 
road to Swanannoa Gap, and go thence eithe^^ to 
Asheville or to Pigeon River have no conception 
of the broad plateaus and wide beautiful valleys 
to be seen further westward. The first idea of 
these is obtained at Waynesville, the capital of 
Haywood County, which is said to be the highest 
town east of the Rocky Mountains. This town 
will be accessible by railroad by midsummer of 
this year and soon become a favorite resort for 
tourists and sportsmen. The creeks abound in 
speckled trout, and in the early fall there are 
plenty of quail. Here is a broad and beautiful 
valley, surrounded by rich rolling land, affording 
fine pasturage. Great crops of wheat, corn and 
oats reward the labors of the agriculturist, and 
on every hand are evidences of the prosperity of 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 205 

the people. A short distance from it is a fine 
white sulphur spring, near to which a commodi- 
ous hotel has been built. A short distance from 
town are the saw mills and other buildings of the 
Mitchell Lumber Company, an Indiana corpora- 
tion, which has purchased an immense number of 
black walnut trees and is now engaged in felling 
and hauling them to mill, in expectation of the 
speedy coming of the railroad. Jackson County, 
next west of Haywood, is another immense body 
of land, in which are a few lofty mountains, and 
great areas of farming and grazing land. In 
these two counties are many mines of copper and 
mica, and in the latter are extensive and Avell de- 
fined veins of nickel and chrome ores. In both 
apples, peaches, and grapes, are produced in 
perfection, and each is noted for the size and 
quality of the beef cattle fattened on its moun- 
tain ranges and hillside pastures. Webster, the 
capital of Jackson County, is a small and pretty 
village, built on the level summit of a high knoll, 
from which it overlooks the country in every 
direction. It is about four miles from the West 
ern railroad, with which it will ultimately be 
connected by either a branch railway or a plank 
road. A large back country finds its market and 
obtains its goods there. In the southern part of 
this county, not far from the South Carolina 
border, is Casher's valley, a long and broad tract 
of well- watered land, noted far and near for its 
beauty, and for its adaptability to stock-raising 
and tillage. It will be some years yet before any 
railroad will pass through that part of the moun- 
tains, but Henderson does now and both Franklin 
and the new town of Highlands will ultimately 
afford all necessary transportation to the 



206 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 

graziers, who have long been in the habit of 
driving their stock across the Blue Ridge into 
South Carolina. 

Swain on the north and Macon on the south 
are the pair of counties next west of Haywood 
and Jackson. Through the former flows the 
Tennessee River in a northerly direction, passing 
by Franklin, the County seat, then making a 
sharp turn to the west, where it receives the 
waters of the Tuckaseege to its bosom, and from 
there to the Great Smoky Mountains it is the 
dividing line between Swain and Graham Coun- 
ties. Macon is in some respects one of the most 
remarkable subdivisions of this mountain coun- 
try. Girt on the south by the Blue Ridge Moun- 
tains, from whose crest much of South Carolina 
and a large section of Georgia may be seen with 
the unassisted eye ; dotted with lofty peaks 
^' wliich 'proudly prop the shies ^^^ and are covered 
with magnificent timber to their summits, all of 
these lofty peaks easy of ascent ; watered by in- 
numerable streams, some of which wind sinuously 
through verdant meadows, while others dash in 
grand cataracts down the steep cliffs and through 
bowers of laurels and rhododendrons ; mountains 
rich in many valuable minerals which have 
scarcely been prospected at all ; streams teeming 
with trout ; woods and thickets, favorite haunts 
of deer, bears, wild turkeys, and lesser game ; a 
soil that in many places never fails to reward the 
labor of the husbandman ; the home of the vine, 
and of many a dainty fern and flower that would 
be prizes to northern florists ; such is especially 
the southern end of this county, where is located 
the young and growing colony of Highlands, 
wherein more fine houses have been erected in 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 207 

the eight years of its existence than in any other 
place on these mountains, Asheville alone ex- 
cepted. Further north is Franklin, the county 
seat, a flourishing village, with some handsome 
and many comfortable houses. The best public 
edifice in any of these western counties is the 
court house, a brick building that is a model in 
its way, and creditable to the taste and liberality 
of the peoi)le. Lieutenant-Governor Robinson 
has his residence in the village, and the yard in 
front of it, bright with flowers from spring to 
fall, gives evidence of the good taste of the ladies 
of his family. Franklin has long and deservedly 
had a reputation for the excellence of its schools 
and the attention paid to the education of its 
youth. One of these days the raih^oad from 
Athens will pass through the town and give to it 
renewed life and activity, for the fertile fields, 
the splendid pasture lands, the noble forests and 
the varied minerals of its mountains will all 
swell the tide of its business and quicken the 
energies of the people of Macon County. Seven 
miles distant is the little hamlet called Car-too- 
ge-chay, with its neat Episcopal church, whose 
white tapering sj)ire shines like a finger of silver 
against the dark green back ground of mountain 
forests. This church was built partly by the 
offerings of the people, and in part by the liber- 
ality of the bishop of the diocese, and of south- 
ern and northern churchmen. It is as yet a 
missionary station, the people doing what they 
can, and the general mission fund making up all 
deficiencies. Some twenty miles west of Frank- 
lin, on the upper N'antehala, is Munday's, a 
place made famous by Christian Reid's beautiful 
sketch published some years ago by the Apple- 



208 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 

tons, caUed '^Tlie Land of the Sky." That 
idyllic love story of a summer in the mountains 
painted this place in brilliant colors which were 
true to nature. Munday is a famous sportsman, 
who knows where the trout hide in the dancing 
river, and where among the laurels to start his 
hounds for the coverts of the deer. His house is 
always open to travelers, and his table never lacks 
the best of game from the woods and waters. A 
tour of the mountains without a short stay at this 
resort is something to be ever regretted. Following 
a northerly road from thence, Valleytown, in 
Cherokee County, is reached in time for dinner at 
the quaint home of a widow lady named Walker. 
Here again is a broad jplateau, covered for the 
greater part with a grove of stately oaks. The 
house itself, a two story frame building, fronts 
upon a yard in which rows of box and some shrub 
evergreens are trimmed into square masses of 
rather solemn-looking borders. This good lady, 
whose husband died early in the civil war, has 
reared a large family of sons to man's estate, and 
they are now among the most respected and 
thrifty citizens of her own and the two adjacent 
counties. One of them is a merchant and occupies 
a well-stocked store on the opposite side of the 
road, where he does a considerable and profitable 
trade. Inside, the house is neat, homelike and 
sunny, and the table is always bountifully sup- 
plied with food well cooked*^ and nicely served. 
From thence the road continues through an un- 
dulating country until it reaches the summit of 
Red Marble Gap in Macon County, not far from 
its northwestern line. This spot was recently the 
occasion of a lively litigation between two rail- 
way companies, but now all is peaceful between 



OF NOETH CAROLINA. 209 

them, and it is expected that both the Western 
North Carolina and the Marietta and North 
Georgia road are ready to unite their efforts on 
terms mutually satisfactory. Following the rough 
trail (called road by courtesy), the traveler passes 
down through one of the most weird ravines to be 
found anywhere in these mountains, and he is 
glad at least to reach the narrow valley of the 
Nantehala which has been dashing over precipices, 
and through the darkness of dense forests ever 
since he lost sight of it a few miles north of Mun- 
day' s. At the entrance of this valley is the farm 
of Nelson, a perfect type of the best kind of 
mountaineer farmers — a quiet, thoughtful, 
earnest man who cultivates his land thoroughly, 
looks after his stock, notes all the changes of the 
season, is a weather prophet that would put 
Yennor to shame, and is a good neighbor and an 
obliging host. Some four miles below his place is 
the property of the J arrett estate, on which, be- 
sides valuable farm land, and several thousands 
of acres of grand timber, there is a high mountain 
of marble, white, black, gray, plaided, and the 
'^ North Carolina Onyx" so called. In the same 
vicinity is a very large vein of white Soapstone 
which was mined for some time in the interest of 
a Cincinnati firm engaged in the manufacture of 
lava tips for gas burners. This infant industry 
was destroyed by heavy importations from Ger- 
many, which were sold at a price much less than 
they could be made for here. At the closing ses- 
sion of the late Congress, Senator Yance presented 
a memorial from all the mountaineer legislators 
asking protection for this industry, and it is hoped 
that when Congress shall meet again next De- 
cember, his efforts in that direction will be 



210 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 

crowned with, success. The beanty of this part of 
the valley cannot be portrayed in fitting words. 
The rushing river, the high mountains witii scores 
of streams dashing down their precipitous sides, 
the forests of immense poi^lars and beeches, of 
black walnut and oak, of birch and maple, of 
hemlock and cedar, surpass all description, while 
the rocks are covered with mosses, tiny ferns, and 
multiform lichens, and the rich soil along the 
river's bank from spring to fall is a mass of blooms. 
About the middle of March the air is laden with 
the fragrance of arbutus, whose masses of white 
and pink blossoms fill all the crevices on the 
upper side of the highway. A bright pink phlox 
nods above them, while in the cavities where a 
little earth has lodged between the road and the 
river delicate lilies are oiDcning their purple bells, 
and wax plants covered with spray shine like the 
work of the Frost King. Leaving this enchanted 
region and continuing down stream, the changed 
timber indicates a totally different soil. Instead 
of limestone it is a slaty formation ; the timber is 
light, poor, and of little value, and there is a 
scarcity of vegetable life. Here the road runs 
high up the mountain side and is well kept for 
several miles, but in descending a new geological 
belt is entered, the timber improves, and wild 
grass and herbage are seen once more. Finally 
the road becomes a cut blasted out of a flinty 
rock, (a rough and unsafe place for any but sure- 
footed beasts,) close to the water's edge. Yet over 
this, heavily laden teams pass almost daily, 
carrying produce to market, and returning with 
store goods. Soon after passing this dangerous 
point, the traveler enters Swain County, still 
following the Nantehala whose mouth is not many 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 211 

miles ahead. As he nears it the mountains slope 
farther away, the valley widens, and a few 
settlers' cabins are seen. About three miles from 
the confluence with the Tennessee is the stockade, 
occupied by the seventy-five convicts who have 
commenced the work of grading the Western rail- 
road up the river towards Red Marble Gap. 
These with their overseers, guards, cooks, and the 
hired skilled laborers, make quite a force, and as 
both powder and dynamite are used whenever 
needed, they will make rapid progress through 
this difficult territory. 

The present method of reaching Charleston, the 
capital of Swain County, from the south or west, is 
by fording the river not far from the stockade, 
and climbing a mountain which has been settled 
by many good farmers during the last twenty 
years, the travel sr having first forded the Tennes- 
see River about two miles from the Nantehala. 
On this mountain can be seen the i)erfection agri- 
culture has reached in this part of the world — 
orchards, corn fields, wheat lands, and sheep pas- 
tures are everywhere. As has been said by manj'' 
travelers, it is" in truth a second Switzerland, but 
without the denser population of that country. 
The houses also do not rise one above another, as 
though built on terraces, but usually occupy a 
cove, the common name for a level stretch of land 
scooped by nature in the side of the mountain, a 
warm sheltered nook, where cabins, out-buildings 
and fruit trees are protected from heavy winds 
and tempestuous storms. But a few miles from 
the northern base of this mountain is Charleston, 
a small village on the banks of the Tuckaseege, 
twelve miles from its mouth. On this side the 
valley is narrow for several miles up stream, but 



212 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 

on the other it spreads out into broad meadows 
and magnificent stretches of high table land, the 
soil everywhere being exceedingly fertile. The 
contractors of the Western North Carolina road 
have promised to reach this town no later than 
next Christmas, and the people are naturally very 
happy. Swain County, and Graham, its next 
neighbor, are alike in many respects, but unlike 
in others. Both of them are rich in iron and 
copper ores, in the quantity and excellence of 
their timber, in their prospects of gold and silver 
(as yet they are prospects only) and in their fine 
lands for tillage and grazing. Swain, however, 
got the start of its neighbor in population, and 
having the advantage of being nearer to Asheville 
and equally near to Tennessee, it has gained upon 
the other rapidly in numbers and wealth. To 
these the railroad will contribute continually, and 
as from the natural formation it must follow the 
north side of the river into the adjoining State, 
population will increase in a much greater ratio 
than heretofore. Now the most western settler 
of that region lives near to Hazel Creek, a bold 
clear mountain stream about sixteen miles from 
the State line. The entire valley in Swain County, 
from six miles west of Charleston, seems to have 
been arranged by nature purposely for a railway, 
and from that point until within three miles of 
the dividing line, the estimated average cost of 
grading, bridging and laying down cross-ties does 
not exceed $6,000 a mile. One peculiarity of this 
part of the State is that while very little arable 
land is seen near the banks of the Tennessee, yet 
on crossing the high ridge that w^alls-in its course, 
or journeying up the valley of any one of the 
creeks that have cut channels through it to the 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 213 

river, tlie eye ranges over a vast region admir- 
ably adapted to every dex3artment of agriculture. 
The last two counties at tlie extreme western 
end of the State are Clay and Cherokee. The 
first is a county of comparatively small area, but 
a large proportion of it is fertile and well watered. 
In it are mines of corundum and other minerals 
of value, and it is inhabited by a people noted for 
industry, energy and intelligence. It has plenty 
of timber, fine water powers, and raises large 
crops of grain and many fat cattle. Hayesville, 
its chief toAvn, is built on a hillside, and has a 
superior academy, while in the suburbs are two 
new churches, one of them of an architectural de- 
sign both novel and pleasing. Railroad or not, 
the citizens of that county are determined to 
thrive, and believing that a good education will 
be worth more to their children than bank stocks 
or railway shares, they are investing all their 
spare money to secure the best that can be had. 
Cherokee, though last, is any thing but least of 
the counties of western North Carolina, and in 
some respects she has advantages over all her sis- 
ters. Not to speak of her timbers, which are 
equal to any, her ores and nuggets of gold, her 
marbles and soapstone, she has in her immense 
beds of iron ores the sources of fabulous wealth 
in the hereafter that is fast coming. The broad, 
lengthy and rich valleys of the Valley River, the 
Hiwassee and the Notteley, will yield an indefinite 
store of corn and wheat every year when suitably 
cultivated, while the numerous tributary creeks 
and branches flow through land equally arable 
and fertile. If any one sub-division of North 
Carolina can fully verify the ancient promise to 
the Hebrews of a land flowing with milk and 



214 COAL AND lEON COUNTIES 

honey, Cherokee County is that favored place. 
Whether considered as a grazing, a farming, a 
horticultural, a market gardening, a dairy, or a 
manufacturing country, Cherokee can be either 
or all. Cornering in between Tennessee and 
Georgia, destined to be united with the railroad 
system of the former State before another year 
has come and gone, and with the great copper 
belt of Tennessee a little later on, she, first of all 
her sisters, will reach the great cities of the Cot- 
ton States with her products, and feed them from 
her teeming granaries and orchards. Then mar- 
ket gardening will pay, and the rearing of veal, 
lamb and mutton for the shambles. Winter apples, 
always worth more in the cities of the Cotton 
States than oranges, will no longer be left to 
waste, but the enormous surplus that the hogs 
have heretofore devoured will be carefully gath- 
ered and turned into gold. The Cherokee people 
are worthy of the blessings in store for them. 
They have waited patiently, worked faithfully, 
and sacrificed much to secure the end that will 
soon be attained, and in their early prosperity 
every citizen of the State will share, for whatever 
benefits even the least of the commonwealth is 
equally an advantage to the whole. 

It so chanced that an assistant editor of a New 
England paper spent some time at Atlanta, Ga., 
in 1881, in attendance upon the International 
Cotton Exposition. The great number of inquir- 
ies addressed to him by New England people 
about the Piedmont and Mountain divisions of 
North Carolina, led him to make three extended 
trips, through the one by railroad, over the other 
in the saddle ; and to the writing of more than 
two hundred letters to leading newspapers. The 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 215 

substance of those letters lias been embodied in 
this publication, which has been carefully revised 
for the information of his fellow citizens. 

Visitors, after examining the display of North 
Carolina at the New England Manufacturers' and 
Mechanics' Institute, will in many instances ask, 
where shall those go who wish to settle in that 
State, and how can they know that they have 
made a wise selection 1 These are pertinent ques- 
tions, but easily answered. 

First, make up your minds what business you 
wish to engage in if you can find a place adapted 
to it. Guided by what you have seen at this ex- 
hibition, confer freely with Hon. Montford Mc- 
Gehee, Commissioner of Agriculture, as to your 
wishes, and learn from him approximately the 
prices of land in that part of the State, the pecu- 
liarities of climate if any, and all other things 
you think you ought to know. After these things 
are settled to your satisfaction, go and see for 
yourself. If you expect to find a paradise you 
will be mistaken. If you hope to light upon a 
spot where you can sit with folded hands and en- 
joy ease while your wealth accumulates, you had 
better stay at home. But if you are willing to go 
to North Carolina (as tens of thousands have been 
going to the West year after year for half a cen- 
tury) " to grow up with the country," there is no 
place in all our grand American heritage that af- 
fords such splendid chances as are to be found in 
the Piedmont and Mountain divisions of North 
Carolina, and if you are young by all means se- 
lect the latter. 



216 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 

From the Sea to the Ridge. 



/ 



[Kerr's Special Report.* 1880.] 

To present the resources of the belt of country 
adjacent to this line specifically and in somewhat 
of detail, let us set down the main features of the 
route, its topography, climate,, soils, minerals, 
forests, agricultural products, manufactures 
and water poioer. 

THE ROUTE. 

By reference to the map, it will be seen that, 
at the point where this road crosses the Cape 
Fear, near the Gulf (to which slackwater naviga- 
tion has been carried and can easily be restored), 
the Blue E-idge is within 150 miles of steam navi- 
gation to the seaboard — nearer than at any other 
point south of Richmond. 

TOPOGRAPHY. 

Below the terminus of the road at Fayetteville, 
the country rises gradually from the sea to an 
elevation of about 200 feet, and may be described 
as a nearly level and slightly undulating cham- 
paign, except where the rivers have channeled it 
out, and carved it, along their immediate courses, 
into hills and bluffs of very limited elevation. 

The hill country gradually succeeds as we go 

* Report by Dr. Kerr, Geologist in charge of the Southern Di- 
vision of the U. S. Geological Survey, on the resources of the 
country along the line of the Cape Fear and Yadkin Valley Rail- 
road, through the middle region of North Carolina, from the head 
of Navigation near the Atlantic Seaboard, to the Blue Ridge and 
the high plateau beyond, to the border of the great valley of 
Virginia and Tennessee. 



OF .NORTH CAROLINA. 217 

inland, and above the Gulf it increases in the un^ 
evenness of its surface and its altitude, until, at 
Greensboro, it is 850 feet above the tide. This 
midland plateau rises along the watershed be- 
tween the Yadkin and the Dan to 1,000 feet, and 
so passes into the mountainous Piedmont section 
that flanks the Blue Ridge in a breadth of fifteen 
to twenty miles, having an elevation of 1,000 to 
1,500 feet. On entering this region, the road 
sends off a branch northward, by Mt. Airy, to- 
ward Fancy Gap and the New River Valley in 
Virginia, while the main road follows the Valley 
of the Yadkin, between the Brushy Mountains 
and the Blue Ridge, to Patterson, where it meets 
the narrow gauge road from Chester, S. C, at an 
elevation of nearly 1,300 feet. From this point is 
begun the ascent along the spurs of the Blue 
Ridge, which, in the course of some twenty miles, 
carries us over this escarpment, and on to a pla- 
teau of 3,000 feet altitude, drained by the New 
River, whose head waters descend from a plateau 
of a thousand feet greater elevation, around the 
flanks of the Grandfather Mountain. The descent 
of some 1,500 feet from this region, and the con- 
nection with the railroad systems of Tennessee 
and Virginia, is effected by the Cranberry and 
Johnson City road. 

WATER POWER AND MANUFACTURES. 

The water power developed in the region open- 
ed by this road, from Fayetteville to the State 
line, where the waters of New River and Watauga 
pass into Virginia and Tennessee, will aggregate 
more than a quarter of a million horse power, 
many times more than enough to turn all the cot- 
ton mills in Massachusetts. In fact, there are 



218 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 

not more than a score of cotton factories in tlie 
region, but the number is increasing every year. 
And here is motive power for many other manu- 
facturing industries, which will spring up with 
the development of the country, such as handle 
and shuttle factories (of which there are several 
already) ; wagon and furniture, and barrel and 
bucket factories, and others of like character, for 
which the rich and abounding forests furnish ma- 
terials ; woollen mills, the whole region being 
adapted to sheep husbandry ; not to mention the 
numerous tanneries, flouring mills and tobacco 
factories, which are multiplying rapidly with the 
wide increase of tobacco culture. 

SOILS. 

As already stated, the distribution of the rock 
formations in zones parallel to the Blue Ridge, 
which are, therefore, traversed in succession, from 
the drift and alluvions of the latest age on one 
hand, to the oldest granites, gneisses, schists and 
limestones on the other, gives rise to the great- 
est possible variety of soils. About Fayetteville 
and coast ward are the sandy soils, the sandy 
loams, clay loams and clays, and every variety of 
alluvial deposit, with a large aggregate of peaty, 
swamp soil of inexhaustible fertilityo As the 
hill country is approached, the gray, gravelly 
soils and red and yellow and chocolate soils of 
the slate and gneissic and granite region super- 
vene, with every variety of texture and composi- 
tion and adaptation ; and the northwestern termi- 
nus of the road will be directly connected with 
the limestone soils of the great Appalachian val- 
ley. Here, therefore, in this wide range of soil 
characters, is one important condition of a varied 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 219 

agriculture. The other and controlling condition 
is 

CLIMATE. 

It will bear restating and emphasizing that no 
other commercial route in this country, of the 
same length as this railway (with its navigable 
water connection to the seaboard), includes so 
wide a climatic range. A reference to the geo- 
logical report of 1875 shows a range of mean an- 
nual temperature from 66° at the mouth of the 
Cape Fear to 45^ on the Grandfather plateau ; and 
these are, also, the figures for southern Alabama, 
Mississippi and Texas on one hand, and Canada 
and Sascatchewan on the other ; that is, the cli- 
matic range along this route, of less than 300 
miles, direct line, is continental in extent, from 
subtropical to cold temperater"TnSe"^iMal rain- 
fall, given in the same report for the middle region 
of the State, is nearly forty-six inches, which is 
distributed in nearly equal amounts through all 
the months of the year. 

The above facts — the variety of soils, the wide 
range of temperature, and the abundant rainfall, 
have, of course, found expression in a correspond- 
ingly great range of natural products, the flora 
having a really continental breadth and variety, 
from the palmetto and live oak on the one hand, 
to the white pine and Canadian fir on the other ; 
so that what I have said in the geological report 
of the variety and richness of the forests of the 
entire State may be applied with scarce a modifi- 
cation to this tract, which includes both the ex- 
tremes that gave its unique breadth of climatic 
and botanical characteristics to the whole. That 
is, there are about one hundred species of woods 



220 COAL ANB IRON COUNTIES 

— more than in all Europe ; of twenty-two species 
of oaks in the United States (east of the Rocky 
Mountains) nineteen are found here ; all (eight) 
of the pines ; four out of five spruces ; all (five) 
of the maples ; both of the walnuts ; three of the 
five birches ; six of the eight hickories ; and all 
(seven) of the magnolias ; more species of oaks 
than in all the States north of us. 

It goes without saying that here is a source of 
business, of freights and manufactures capable of 
immediate and indefinite expansion and develop- 
ment. Already the woodmen of England, Cana- 
ada and the northern States are exploring and 
marking the vast tracts of white oak forest on the 
Cape Fear and its tributaries ; and many attempts 
have been made to establish wagon and other fac- 
tories along this belt in the interior, unsuccess- 
fully for want of just the facilities which this 
railway will furnish. And the export of oak 
staves to Spain and other foreign countries carried 
on sporadically and in a very lame and limited 
way, only waits for the advantage which this line 
can offer, to widen into a large and permanent 
and profitable business. Attempts have also been 
made unprofitably to utilize the white pine, the 
walnut, cherry, birdseye maple, and other cabinet 
woods, which abound in different sections along 
this line, and to put them into the northern fur- 
niture market ; they ought to be easily successful 
when this road is opened. 

Of the twenty kinds of timber admitted to the 
shipyards of New York, nearly all are found here. 
The following is a partial catalogue of the com- 
mercial timbers common to one or another section 
along this tract : 

Pine, six species ; white pine ; fir, three species; 

\ 



1 

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 221 ( 

hemlock, juniper, cypress, red cedar ; oak, four- 
teen species ; hickory, six do. ; walnut, two do. ; 
chestnut, beech, black locust; maple, three sj^ecies ; 
ash, four do.; elm, three do.; cherry, holly, 
dogwood ; gum, two species ; sassafras, pal- 
metto, magnolia (cucumber tree), persimmon, j 
IDoplar ; birch, two species ; sycamore, tulip tree / 
(poplar), linn (bass wood) ; sixty four s^^ecies, val- / 
uable for their timber. 

Among these a single species, the long leaf pine ^j 
yields in timber and naval stores products of < 
83,000,000 value annually ; and the long leaf pine 
]:)elt is traversed by more than fifty miles of the 
C. F. & Y. Y. R. R. There are many other trees 
and shrubs of less importance, or whose value 
consists less, or not at all, in their timber, but 
in their leaves or bark, as the sumac, sweet 
gum, cane, etc. ; and in addition to these, several 
hundred species of medicinal plants are gathered 
for export to all parts of the world, (such as gin- 
seng, hellebore, etc.,) amounting to many thou- 
sand tons a year, chiefly from the mountain sec- 
tion. Thus it will be seen, that in these indige- 
nous forest products are found the means and ma- 
terials for large businesses and freights for an in- 
definite time ; and the value of these resources, 
and the demand for them, incl-eases rapidly year 
by year, as the accessible forest regions of the 
continent are more and more rai^idly suffering 
exhaustion. The shops of Pittsburg, with their 
annual consumption of 50,000,000 cubic feet of 
timber, having exhausted the forests of several 
States, are already turning this way for their 
future supply ; and so of Cincinnati and of 
Chicago, as the forests of Michigan and Upper 
Wisconsin swiftly disappear. 



222 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 



AGKICULTUAL PRODUCTS. 

The great range of climate and of soil of this 
region constitute, of course, the basis, and fur- 
nish the essential conditions of the most varied 
agricultural industries. In fact, the United States 
,. Census Agricultural Statistics ^show that in this 
/ State are found all the products of all the States 
from the Northern lakes to the Gulf, with the 
single exception of the orange, which, as has been 
seen, is equivalent to saying, that this variety of 
productions are found along this tract— the fig 
and sugar cane at one extreme, buckwheat and 
rye being characteristic products of the other, 
while between are the rice fields of the lower Cape 
Fear, a wide cotton belt of 150 miles, succeeded 
by the wheat and bright tobacco region from the 
Gulf to the Blue Kidge. One half, at least, of 
this region, also, is eminently adapted to silk cul- 
ture, which has been successfully established at 
several points, and promises a large expansion ; 
and jute has also been grown here equal to the 
best' raised in India. The whole region is also 
adapted to sheep husbandry, which has been 
profitably pursued from the first settlement of the 
country, and still is so in the eastern section and 
in the mountains ; and the access to the world's 
wool market, which the railway will furnish, as 
well as the impulse it will give to manufacturing, 
should give an immediate and large expansion to 
this industry. The exchange of products between 
the extreme sections of the region promises, in 
the near future, business enough for a raihvay ; 
it is like bringing Canada and Mississippi or Texas 
within twenty-four hours of each other. In 
Watauga one readily imagines himself in Ver- 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 223 

mont or Ontario ; and among the rice fields and 
Palmettos of the lower Cape Fear one lias tlie 
agricultural landscape of the Gulf Coast ; and 
this says nothing of the products of the great 
valley beyond the mountains, opened by the con- 
nections of the line northward and westward. 

MINERALS. 

As the widely variant conditions of climate and 
soil gave rise to a remarkably extensive flora, and 
a very great number of useful plants, and to a 
notably varied agriculture, so the underlying geo- 
logical conditions already referred to give scope 
for a correspondingly great range of mineral 
wealth. In fact, North Carolina contains a far 
larger number of minerals than any other State 
in the Union. Among these, which number, as 
far as known, about 160, many of the most useful 
are found in abundance along the tract of country 
traversed by, or immediately connected with this 
railway. It is needful to mention here only a 
few, and such as are likely to furnish considerable 
amounts of freight ; and first the marls are worthy 
to head the list in this respect. These beds of 
native fertilizers abound on the waters of the Cape 
Fear for nearly 100 miles ; and as the little State 
of New Jersey, less than the region of North 
Carolina opened by this road, raises and trans- 
IDorts more than 100,000 tons per annum from her 
marl pits to every corner of the State, to the great 
profit of the railways and of agriculture, so one 
of the great and permanent and most profitable 
sources of business for this road will be found in 
the transportation of this article of prime agri- 
cultural necessity to the whole region in question 
quite to the mountains. 



224 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 

Next in order as we go inland, is the coal of 
Deep River and Dan River, to be distributed both 
ways from each, and carried to the seaboard also. 
And associated with these beds and in the imme- 
diate neighborhood of them, are numerous and 
valuable deposits of iron ore, as well as between 
them, in the intermediate midland region, and in 
the mountains and beyond. The transportation 
of these ores, many of them of the highest grade, 
and in large demand for the Bessemer steel man- 
ufacture everywhere, to the coal beds of this State 
and of Tennessee, as well as to the steel 
furnaces of Pennsylvania, must give rise to 
a great freighting business for the whole line. 
The copper and gold mines will also contribute no 
mean item to the aggregate bulk of business. A 
single copper mine in Ashe County will transfer 
to it many thousand tons of freight, that are now 
wagoned fifty miles, at very heavy cost. And if 
to this list be added the millstones, grindstones, 
soaps tones, porcelain clays and building stones of 
the Midland and Deep River section, and the 
limestone, plaster and salt beds of Southwest 
Virginia, which an advancing agriculture will re- 
quire to be distributed along the whole line, and 
thence to the whole State, it will be seen that the 
possibilities of the development of business for 
the road are almost unlimited, except by the in- 
telligence and skill of its management. 

It may be satisfactory to add to the above sum- 
mary statement, the following synopsis and 
statistics of the resources of the country traversed 
by and immediately connected with the Cape Fear 
and Yadkin Yalley railroad, by sections : — 



OF NOETH CAEOLINA. 225 



CAPE FEAR SECTION. 

I have spoken of the marls sufficiently, which 
this region can furnish in indefinite quantities. 
Wilmington will contribute rice from the neigh- 
boring plantations, and groceries and trox>ical 
fruits from the West Indies and Florida. The 
merchants of the interior have long considered 
this a better market for the purchase of these 
articles than New York. And from the upper 
Cape Fear, above Fayetteville for 50 miles, will 
come large shipments of timber and naval stores, 
as heretofore. There are many hundreds of square 
miles of the long leaf pine forests in this section 
yet to be opened to commerce. It will be seen, 
by reference to the United States Census, that this 
trade amounts to more than three millions per 
annum, and a large part of it is concentrated along 
the Cape Fear. The returns for 1879 give the 
shipments of naval stores from Fayetteville as ag- 
gregating 96,000 barrels. 

From this section, also, there is a considerable 
export of cotton, as w^ell as from the 

DEEP RIVER SECTION. 

This part of the territory is near the northern 
margin of the cotton producing zone, but improved 
culture and the increasing use of fertilizers, has 
greatly extended this industry, and it increases 
and widens year by year. The re-opened naviga- 
tion of the Deep River offers facilities for the con- 
centration of this product from a large territory. 
The shipments from Fayetteville were 17, 000 bales 
last year. 

In this section the long leaf pine and oak forests 
meet. There are some fine bodies of the latter 



226 COAL AND lEON" COUNTIES 

along the river bottoms and those of its tributaries, 
and all over the intervening ridges and hills, for a 
dozen miles above the Gulf ; and with the various 
species of oak are found other valuable woods — 
walnut, hickory and dogwood, etc., in abundance. 
A company from Baltimore are making arrange- 
ments to ship large quantities of the two latter 
woods this season. 

The coal beds of this section are too well known 
to require any detailed discussion. The '' Geology 
of North Carolina," 1875, contains a description 
of their character, extent, accessibility and 
various uses. They haye been opened at two 
points, Egypt and the Gulf ; and at the latter, 
oi^erations are now carried on. The following 
analysis, from the geological report referred to, 
will best indicate the character and adaptation of 
this coal : 

Carbon 60.7 59.3 63.3 70.5 

Volatile matter 32.7 30.5 25.7 21.9 

Ash 5.3 10.2 10.1 6.5 

Sulphur 1.3 .... 1.3 1.0 

The first and second (by Schseffer and 
Genth, respectively) represent the coal at 
Egypt ; the third, by Johnson, that at Wil- 
cox' s, some eight or ten miles above the Gulf ; 
and the fourth, by Genth, that at the Gulf. 
Admiral Wilkes, in his report to the Secre- 
tary of the Navy, says: "It is well adapted 
for fuel, coking, gas and oil. It is a shining, 
clear coal, resembling the best specimens of Cum- 
berland. It ignites easily and burns with a bright, 
clear combustion, and leaves a very little purplish 
gray ash. It swells and agglutinates, making a 
hollow fire. It yields a shining and very porous 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 227 

coke, and is an excellent coal for making gas, or 
for burning." 

The president of the Norfolk Gas Works, who 
had it tested, says : " Our superintendent thinks 
it about equal to the best Clover Hill coal, giving, 
of 16 candle gas, Sf cubic feet per jDound ; " and 
this from coal v^hich had been mined three years. 
Testimonies from other sources are equally em- 
phatic, as will be seen in the report above referred 
to. There are several seams of coal, but the only 
one large enough to be of economical importance 
at present, is 6 feet thick, or T^-, if a second seam 
be included, which is separated from the former 
by IJ- feet of shale and black band iron ore. It is 
evident, that such coals must make, at least, a 
considerable local market for themselves, when 
facilities for their transportation are provided. 

With this coal are associated large deposits of 
black band and ball iron ore, for the analysis and 
discussion of which the same report, and Dr. Em- 
mons' s and Admiral Wilkes's reports also are re- 
ferred to. And in addition to these, there are 
many other iron ore beds, both in the immediate 
vicinity and along the track of the railway for 
some 20 miles, and up and down the river for a 
still greater distance. The following analysis 
from the geological report will indicate the gen- 
eral character of them : 

Sesquioxide of Iron 69 . 73 67 . 50 

Protoxide of Iron 0.84 47.50 40. 

Phosphoric Acid 06 ... 

Sulphur 09 3.39 

Carbon 31.30 34. 

These represent the limonites, ball ores and 
black band of common occurrence about Hay- 
wood, Sanford, Egypt and the Gulf. The Evans 



228 COAL AND IKON COUNTIES 

vein, of hematite, 6 miles above the Gulf, gives 
96.4 per cent, of peroxide of iron, and is other- 
wise a very pure ore. It is six feet thick. Another 
" bed of reddish brown ore, 2i feet thick, at the 
Tysor place," contains, according to Emmons, 61 
per cent, of iron. And there are several other 
beds of magnetic ore in the neighborhood, un- 
developed, as at Glass' , Unthank' s and Headen' s. 
But the most important ore bed of the region is 
found at Ore Hill. The ore is limonite, except 
one vein near the summit of the hill, of specular 
ore, like the Evans. Many of the veins have been 
opened and worked at various times. Several of 
them are large, 10, 15 and more feet in thickness. 
The ore is very cellular and x^orous, and easily 
smelted, and makes a tough iron. The following 
analyses of the ore from a shaft 90 feet deep will 
represent its character : 

Silica 1.42 3.79 

Oxide of Iron 82.02 83.80 

Lime and Magnesia 1.30 

Phosphorus 00 

Sulphur .00 0.44 

Iron 57.41 58.67 

These analyses are by Genth and Hanna, and 
the samples were selected by myself from a heap 
of several hundred tons. The purity of this ore 
is conspicuous, and its quantity seems to be very 
great. 

There are other outcrops of specular and mag- 
netic ore further up the river, in Randolph 
County, from which excellent iron was made dur- 
ing the war, one of the beds most used being re- 
ported as 3 feet thick. 

The red and gray sandstones and. granites of 
this section will come more and more into demand 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 229 

for building purposes as the country advances 
and facilities for their carriage improve. The 
sandstones will also be used for grindstones, as 
during the war. 

There are several millstone quarries, also, in 
Moore County, from one of which a Baltimore 
company are now cutting 8 to 10 pairs of stones a 
month, and are turning out two complete portable 
mills per week, of a ton and a half weight 
each. These are shipped to all parts of the 
country and to distant States. And the busi- 
ness is enlarging continually. The stone is 
a conglomerate and is of excellent quality ; 
it has been used all over the middle region 
of the State for a century. A consider- 
able business also is done in the same line at an- 
other quarry of a different kind of stone found 
in the granite region on the upper waters of 
Little River. 

The Soapstone heds near the borders of Moore 
and Chatham, have also been extensively worked 
before the war, and to some extent since, and 
have furnished a large amount of freight for the 
road, and no doubt will do so again, as there is 
always a large demand for this article for various 
purposes in New York and elsewhere. One ship- 
per in Fayetteville has forwarded 9,000 barrels 
(of 300 lbs. each), and several hundred tons in 
mass ; and this represents only a small part of 
the aggregate shipments. 

The Gold Mines of Moore and Randolph as 
they are gradually reopened, with the accumula- 
tion of capital, will, as in the times before the 
war, give rise to a considerable business in the 
transport of machinery, ores and supplies. 

T7ie Cotton Mills of Deep River, of which 



230 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 

there are six in full operation, will require a con- 
tinually increasing amount of freigiiting business. 
They aggregate already nearly 20,000 spindles 
and several hundred looms, consuming about 150 
bales a week. I have estimated elsewhere the 
total water power of this stream alone at nearly 
one million of spindles, and of this and Cape 
Fear, above FayetteviUe, at above 3,000,000, so 
that in this favoring climate, in the midst of the 
cotton fields, in a region which can produce its 
own food supi)lies, there must be a rapid and 
very great expansion of this manufacture, with a 
corresponding increase of all sorts of business. 

This section also produces a surplus of grain 
to be transported to the Cape Fear and coast 
region. 

MIDLAND SECTION. 

This portion of the tract includes the upper 
part of Randolph and Chatham, a large part of 
Gruilford and Forsyth, Stokes, Yadkin, Surry, 
Wilkes and Caldwell — a region of nearly as great 
extent, and of more varied and abundant re- 
sources, than some entire States. It contains 
wide stretches of the finest forests in their 
primeval state. They abound, in extraordinary 
richness along the streams in the southern part 
of Guilford and along many of the intervening 
ridges, and on the upper waters of Haw Eiver in 
the western and northern portions of the county ; 
and again on the head streams of the Dan, on 
the flanks of the Sauratown Mountains, and in 
the valleys of the Yadkin and its numerous trib- 
utaries that come down from the slopes of the 
Blue Ridge. These will furnish immense quanti- 
ties of white oak, and other species of oak, 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 231 

hickory, walnut, poplar, Avhile the uplands and 
ridges and the spurs of the mountains abound in 
hickory, dogwood, yellow pine, chestnut and 
black locust. And above Patterson there are 
large forests of white pine. 

This section also contains some of the best iron 
deposits of the State. The extensive range of 
magnetic ores that stretches for 30 miles across 
the middle of Guilford County is crossed by this 
road. These ores are of the highest grade ; they 
are now being shipped by rail to Pennsylvania. 
When they are brought within 75 miles of water 
transportation, there is no good reason why they 
should not supplant the African, Spanish, En- 
glish and Irish ores in the Bessemer furnaces of 
Pittsburg and of the whole State of Pennsyl- 
vania. 

The extraordinary purity of these ores will be 
evident from the following analyses, made by 
Genth : 

Silica 0.76 5.68 0.40 1.30 0.50 

Titanic Acid 13.52 11.67 11.95 1.27 12.27 

Magnetic Oxide Iron 79.53 72.74 81.89 93.63 79.16 

Mang. Oxide & Cobalt.. 0.81 0.64 1.02 0.93 1.21 

Oxide Chromium 0.45 0.48 1.07 1.43 0.57 

Alumina 1.68 5.08 1.06 0.55 3.64 

Magnesia 2 79 2.61 1.99 0.75 2.04 

Lime 0.45 0.56 0.24 0.14 0.63 

Water 0.34 0.38 .00 .00 

Iron 57.68 52.68 59.03 67.60 57.32 

An average of 10 specimens, representing the 
whole range of 30 miles, gives iron 54.61, titan- 
ium 8.07. 

l!^one of these ores contains either sulphur or 
phosphorus. Their purity is absolute. And as 
to the titanium, its presence makes no difficulty 



232 COAL AND iko:n^ counties 

under judicious furnace management. And as to 
their quantity, Dr. Lesley, State Geologist ci' 
Pennsylvania, from whom the above facts are ob- 
tained, says, ' ' Centuries of heavy mining could 
not exhaust it." 

Two other ranges of these high grade magne- 
tites are found further on, one in Stokes County, 
near Danbury, and the other across the Yadkin, 
north and south, at the Great Bend, where the 
railway strikes it. Many analyses of these ores 
by Genth are given in *^the Geological Report, 
three of which will suffice : 

Mag. Oxide, Iron 86.39 70.61 79.75 93.47 85.09 79.71 

Mang. Oxide , trace 0.48 0.81 trace trace trace 

Oxide Copper 0.09 0.15 0.13 .00 .00 0.00 

Alumina 0.75 0.66 1.20 trace 0.70 2.27 

Magnesia 0.77 0.90 0.90 0.20 0.11 0.17 

Lime 5.70 1.34 0.86 13 0-29 0.31 

Silica, etc 10.83 24.28 14.46 7.20 13.76 15.66 

Phosphorus 0,04 0.05 .04 .00 .00 .00 

Sulphur 00 .00 .00 .00 .00 .00 

The first three represent the ore of the Great 
Bend, and about Pilot, and the others, three of 
the principal ore banks of Stokes, the Rogers, 
etc. These ores have been smelted for the local 
market for more than half a century and produce 
a metal of excellent quality. 

The ores of Wilkes and of Caldwell, about Pat- 
terson and along the upper waters of the Yadkin 
to the summit of the Blue Ridge, are of equally 
high grade. An analysis of a beautiful martite 
schist which occurs at several points along this 
line gives sesquioxide of iron 96.14, sulphur 0, 
phosphorus, 0.07; iron, 67.32. This ore, in hand 
specimens, cannot be distinguished from the Mar- 
quette ore of Lake Superior. 



OF NOETH CAEOLINA. 233 

Tlie coal of Dan Kiver outcrops near the line of 
the road on Town Fork. This is a semi-bitumin- 
ous coal, a good fuel, and a good furnace coal. 
Lower down, near Leaksville, where it was mined 
during the war, it has a thickness of nearly three 
feet ; it has not been opened elsewhere. 

There is a large number of cotton mills in the 
upper part of this section and the number is in- 
creasing, and may be multiiDlied almost indefi- 
nitely. The power developed by the fall of the 
water of the upper Yadkin and its tributaries may 
be estimated at not less than 2,000,000 spindles, 
and not more than the one-hundredth part of this 
force is utilized. 

All the counties named as belonging to this sec- 
tion of the tract, except the first two, belong to 
the brig /it tobacco belt, and the culture and manu- 
facture of this product has extended with great 
rapidity during the last few years, so that here 
will soon be the the very centre of this profitable 
industry. This means enlargement of business 
activity in many directions. 

A suri^lus of small grain and corn, and large 
quantities of fruit are produced throughout this 
section. The Brushy Mountains are noted as one 
of the best fruit regions of the continent. These 
products can be indefinitely increased with the 
increased facilities for transport. 

There are also several mineral springs of con- 
siderable celebrity in the Piedmont, near the line 
of the road, to which summer travel will consti- 
tute no contemptible item of business. 

MOUNTAIN SECTION. 

We enter an entirely different sort of country ; 
a country of cattle, horses and sheep, of hay, 



234 COAL AND IRON" COUNTIES 

buckwheat, Canadian onts and rye, and of apples, 
cabbages and potatoes of superior excellence, and 
dairy products wliich can be exchanged readily, 
through this railway, for the j)roducts and mer- 
chandise of the east and the tropics. 

Iron ore also abounds along this plateau, many 
of the beds of great extent and of the best qual- 
ity — for the most part magnetites. Among these 
is the Cranberry ore bank, one of the most exten- 
sive and valuable deposits in the world. This bed 
alone can furnish hundreds of tons of freight a 
day for an indefinite period. The Cape Fear and 
Yadkin Yalley Railroad will offer great advan- 
tages over all other routes for its rapid and cheap 
transport to the seaboard, and so to all the great 
iron manufacturing regions of the North, wliich 
now draw a considerable part of their supplies of 
these high grade ores from the other side of the 
Atlantic. An average of five analyses by Dr. Genth 
gives — iron 64.3, and barely a trace of sulphur 
and phosphorus. Many other ore beds of the 
same character and grade are found in different 
parts of the X3lateau, and have been worked in Cat- 
alan forges in a small way, producing iron of 
the best quality. So that the supply of 
these ores may be set down as practically inex- 
haustible. 

Copper ores are also found here in large work- 
able veins. The Ore Knob Mine, in Ashe County, 
produces 800 tons annually ; and its freights 
amount to about 100 tons a month, which will 
seek this outlet as soon as the road approaches 
the Blue Ridge, the wagon route of its present 
traffic being some oO miles in length, and very ex- 
pensive. 

There are several other veins of this ore in this 



OP NOKTH CAEOLIIS-A. 285 

section, of equal promise, wliich the access of the 
railway will speedily develop. 

The timber products of this section are also of 
immense extent. The largest and linest cherry 
and walnut timber grows in these mountain coves, 
with curled maple and black birch (or mahogany). 
I have seen here forests of cherr}^, and have 
measured trees of more than three feet in diame- 
ter, and clear of limb for 75 feet. And almost 
unbroken forests of the heaviest oak timber ; and 
chestnut, poplar, hemlock, white pine, linn, black 
locust and birch, mantle cove, ridge and mountain 
slope, to the highest summits. 

The loater poicer of this section is of course very 
great ; here rise the Yadkin, both forks of the 
New River, Watauga, Elk, Doe, Toe and Linville 
Rivers, several of them descending more than a 
thousand feet within the limits of the plateau. 

The summer climate of this remarkable plateau 
is unmatched for equability and salubrity, the 
noon temperature never passing 80°. There is no 
locality east of the Mississix)pi so inviting to the 
tourist from the plains of the south and east and 
southwest ; the highlands of N'ew York are not 
t J be compared with it. This will be the summer 
resort of a dozen States, as soon as opened by the 
railroad, and the goal of an immense summer 
travel from all directions. 

TRANSMONTANE SECTIOIS^. 

Beyond the limits of the State this line of rail- 
way is brought into immediate communication 
with the great valley of East Tennessee and Vir- 
ginia, by the Cranberry Karrow Gauge Road and 
by the road recently chartered by Virginia, down 
ISTew^ River to the Virginia & East'^Tennessee Road. 



236 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 

These connections open to tlie business of tlie 
Cape Fear & Yadkin Valley Railway, the very 
heart of the continent, a region of the great- 
est and most undeveloped resources, destined to 
become, in the near future, the centre of the great 
iron industry of the continent, with a correspond- 
ing growth and power in many other directions. 



Transmontane North Carolina, 



The country west of the Blue Ridge Moun- 
tains and extending to the extreme southwestern 
corner, has many features common to the whole. 
It is a country of mountain, of valley, and of 
river ; a country in which each mountain chain 
has its accomx)anying valley and its ever present 
river, and its numerous smaller streams, each 
bordered by its own X3leasant little valley. A de- 
scription of one part might serve for a descri]Dtion 
of the whole if general features were regarded. 
But in detail, there is endless variety of form and 
character, giving every feature of beauty or of 
value. There is no sameness or monotony in 
charm of scenery, while in material value there 
is remarkable uniformity. 

The counties lying west of the Ridge are 
Mitchell, Yancey, Madison, Buncombe, Hender- 
son, Transylvania, Haywood, Jackson, Macon, 
Clay, Cherokee, Graham and Swain. 

MITCHELL COUNTY 

lies between the Blue Ridge on the south and 
east, and the Smoky Mountains on the north, the 



OF NORTH CAEOLINA. 237 

west having a conventional boundary. The whole 
county is to a great degree mountainous, there 
being little valley formation except on the upper 
waters of the Toe River. The highest mountain 
is the Roan, which rises to the height of 6,306 feet. 
The Korth Toe River is the principal stream flow- 
ing out of the State under the name of the Nole- 
chucky and one of the main afiluents of the 
Holston River in Tennessee. 

The soil of Mitchell is uniformly fertile, the 
timber of large size and of great variety. The 
cereals grow to great perfection. Apples, cherries 
and grapes are of great excellence, and much of 
the land proves well adapted to the production of 
very fine tobacco. The grasses flourish, and cattle 
are reared for market in considerable numbers. 

The mineral products of this county are con- 
fined at present to mica and iron; copper and 
other metals have been found. The famous 
Cranberry Mines are in the northeastern corner of 
the county, and now extensively worked. They 
are connected by railroad with the Norfolk and 
Southern railroad at Johnson City, Tennessee. 

The Mica Mines are the most extensive in the 
United States, and produce a large proportion of 
the mica put the on market. The most productive 
mines are those once worked by an aboriginal 
race. 

The area of this county in square miles is 240 
miles, and the population in 1880, 9,435. The 
county seat is Bakersville. 

YANCEY COUNTY 

lies on the west of Mitchell. It has an area of 400 
square miles, and a population of 7,694. This 
county is pre-eminently mountainous. The Black 



238 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 

Mountains penetrate it from the soutlieast and 
extend to its centre near Burnsville, tlie county 
seat. There are twenty summits of this range in 
this county rising above 6,300 feet, the highest, 
Mitcheirs High Peak, being 6,707 feet, the 
highest point in the United States east of the 
Rocky Mountains. The Smoky Mountains 
separate this county from Tennessee, the highest 
peak within its limits being the Bald Mountain, 
5,550 feet in height. Numerous cross chains 
intersect the county in all directions, leaving very 
little valley land except along the margins of 
numerous small streams, with broader ones along 
the larger streams. Toe and Caney Rivers. But 
mountains are the characteristics of the county. 
These, without exception, are fertile to the very 
top, covered with deep, rich and friable soil, in 
their natural condition bearing trees of great size. 
The walnut often attains the diameter of eight 
feet, the wild cherry a height of sixty feet to the 
first limb, and with a diameter of four feet, the 
poplar with a diameter of ten feet, the black birch 
or mountain mahogany, the oak of several 
species, the hickory, mai3le and ash, the yellow 
locust and other trees, all of giant size. The 
quantity, magnitude and excellence of forest 
stores has attracted attention from abroad, and 
large supplies are now annually cut, sawed and 
shijiped. 

Brought into cultivation, the soil is very fertile, 
producing all the grains, grasses and fruits, the 
apples being of notable excellence. Tobacco of 
great excellence is produced, and the culture is 
rapidly extending. The mountain sides when 
cleared are finely adapted to all the grasses ; large 
quantities of sheep are raised, and cattle in large 



OF ]S^ORTH CAROLINA. 239 

numbers are annnally driven off to the Virginia 
markets. 

This county is rich in metals and minerals. 
Magnetic iron abounds but is not yet mined. 
Other ores of iron are abundant. Copper has 
been found. Asbestos, corundum and mica are 
abundant, one of the most prolific veins in the 
United States being worked near Burnsville. 

BUNCOMBE COUNTY, 

once so ample in its area as to receive, and almost 
merit, the title of the "State of Buncombe," is 
now much reduced in extent, and is no larger 
than many of the counties of which it is the par- 
ent. Its eastern boundary follows the line of the 
Blue Ridge, its crests forming the dividing line 
between McDowell and Buncombe. On the west 
the New Found range marks the separation from 
Haywood County. Madison on the north, and 
Henderson on the south have no natural bounda- 
ries, the lines of division being artificial. 

The area of the county is 620 miles. The total 
population by the census of 1880 was 23,909 ; but 
since that date there has been noticeable increase. 
The acreage is 341,542, of which 99, 602 acres were 
improved at the time of the same census. Nearly 
the whole surface is susceptible of improvement ; 
for though the mountains predominate as natural 
features there are few without deep soil to the top, 
and much of the best pasture land, and a large 
portion of land now used for the culture of fine 
yellow tobacco is mountain side or mountain top. 

Buncombe County is bisected by the French 
Broad River, which, rising in Transylvania, pur- 
sues a course nearly north, and passes out of the 
State into Tennessee at Paint Rock. It is a 



240 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 

stream of considerable volume and of surprising 
width for a mountain stream. At Asheville it is 
110 yards wide ; and little less than that for 
twenty miles above. Below the character of the 
stream changes and the width varies. At Ashe- 
ville the rapids begin ; above that point the cur- 
rent is gentle, and there is natural navigation, 
with some obstructions which the National Gov- 
ernment has partially removed up to Brevard in 
Transylvania, a distance by water of forty miles. 
The water jjower of the river has not been utilized. 
Above Asheville, there is none. Below the narrow 
interval between the river and the cliffs causes 
embarrassment in the location of mill sites. The 
Swannanoa is the only other river in the county 
of any importance ; more noted for its beauty 
than for its usefulness. Numerous small streams 
prove much more useful in their applications to 
mills and machinery than the larger bodies of 
water. 

The valleys of Buncombe County are narrow 
and limited in extent. The valley system of the 
French Broad may be said to cease at Fanning' s 
bridge, 12 miles above Asheville, and thence, until 
it enters into Tennessee, the course of the river may 
be said to be in a narrow trough with occasional 
trivial expansions. The general surface of the 
country is hilly rather than mountainous, offering 
facilities for agricultural operations largely used: 
though mountains are sufficiently lofty and 
abundantly numerous to give a mountainous 
character to the landscape. 

The soil of Buncombe is fairly fertile, but does 
not equal that of Haywood or Transylvania. But 
it is sufficiently productive in all the cereals, the 
grasses and fruits of the temperate zone. Wheat 



OF NORTH CAEOLINA. 241 

produces an average of ten bushels to the acre. 
Oats yields exuberantly, corn thrives and pro- 
duces from 30 to 50 bushels to the acre ; clover 
and all the grasses are so well favored by soil 
and climate as to appear indigenous. The fruits 
find a congenial home here, especially the apple, 
which, in size and flavor, and in abundant 
healthy yield, are seldom equaled. The Irish po- 
tato here finds a favoring soil and climate, the 
yield being great and of superior quality. All 
kinds of vegetables grow with luxuriance, and 
the cabbage is especially noticeable for size and 
good quality. 

The timber of this county does not attain the 
size it reaches in some more favored counties. It 
includes, however, all the varieties known in the 
mountains. Oak, hickory, walnut, elm, beech, 
birch, sycamore, niajDle, locust, buckeye, pine, 
the hemlock, spruce, and others, with an under- 
growth of chinquepin, dogwood, laurel, kalmia, 
azalea, and other shrubby trees. 

Among the new products of the county is to- 
bacco — the one which has most largely and most 
rapidly added to the profits of agriculture. It 
has been cultivated as a general crop only within 
the past six years, and the soil of the hills down 
the French Broad, and back a few miles from the 
river, seem better adapted to its culture than the 
southern portion of the county, where few plant- 
ers have attempted it. The quality produced is 
almost altogether the bright yellow of a quality 
that commands prices equal to those obtained for 
the tobacco of the centre of ISTorth Carolina. The 
culture is increased under growing demand and 
convenient markets, and it has become the money 
-crop of a greater part of the county. 



242 COAL AND IROJS- COUNTIES 

Buncombe County is traversed by three rail- 
roads, or rather by three branches of the same 
road ; the main stem of the Western North Caro- 
lina road entering the county from the mouth of 
the Swannanoa tunnel, and dividing at Asheville 
into the Paint Rock branch, which is 43 miles in 
length, and the Ducktown or Pigeon River branch, 
finished to a distance of 21 miles. The Ashe 
ville and Spartanburg road will be finished in the 
course of a few months, and will add to the 
stimulus already given to business enterprise, 
the effect of which is already felt in the in- 
creasing wealth, prosperity and i3opulation of 
the county. 

There are three incorporated towns in the 
county — Asheville, the county seat, with a popu- 
lation of 4,000, with churches, schools, good 
hotels, with streets iDartially macadamized, with 
w^ater works approaching completion, with a busi 
ness of large dimensions, and with a character as 
a health and pleasure resort known and valued 
throughout the United States. 

Weaverville, nine miles north of Asheville, is a 
hamlet, with an excellent, industrious and thrifty 
population, a good woollen mill and a large nur- 
sery seed garden ; Arden, a small straggling vil- 
lage, ten miles south of Asheville, recently incor- 
porated, better known from its proximity to the 
beautiful Arden Park, a pleasure resort, than 
from any other cause ; and to these may be added 
Leicester, eleven miles northwest of Asheville, a 
thi'ifty little hamlet, with a population made uj) 
largely of industrious farmers. 

In enumerating the products of this county it 
would make a sketch more complete if accurate 
information could be given of its mineral wealth. 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 243 

Iron ores, magnetic and titaniferous, are known 
to exist ; but there have been no works opened, 
and little is known of the extent or value of the 
deposits. Corundum has also been found ; so has 
mica ; but it cannot be said that the wealth of the 
county is in its minerals. 

MADISON COUNTY. 

This county lies north of Buncombe, which is 
its southern "^boundary. The Smoky Mountains 
separate it on the north from Tennessee, Yancey 
County bounds it on the east, and Haywood on the 
west. 

The area of the county is 450 miles, with an 
acreage of 233,575 acres, of wdiich 69,089 are im- 
proved. The population was 12,810 by the census 
of 1880. 

The county is essentially a mountain territory. 
There is little or none of valley lands, the whole 
surface being traversed by ranges of mountains, 
ranging from 2,500 to 4,500 above sea level. None 
of them rise to the stupendous height they attain 
in the adjoining counties of Yancey and Hay- 
wood, the great Smokj^ range even being de- 
pressed below its average height. But though 
mountainous almost the w^hole soil is of surpassing 
fertility. In few counties does* the timber attain 
such vast dimensions, and in some favored locali- 
ties its size might appear fabulous. On the 
Laurel River walnut eight feet in diameter, pop- 
lar ten or twelve, wild cherry three or four, buck- 
eye of the same, black birch of the same size and 
of proportionate height are the common growth 
of the county. And to them may be added other 
trees too many in variety to enumerate. 

From such exuberance of soil much of agri- 



244 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 

cultural prodigality of wealth might be exx)ected. 
Nor is there disa^jpointment in expectation, 
though from absence of the means of transporta- 
tion agricultural effort was limited to the produc- 
tion of little more than the necessaries of life un- 
til the discovery that these mountainous hills had 
peculiar adaptation to the production of superior 
tobacco. For six years or more Madison County 
has been foremost in the production of very 
superior bright yellow tobacco. The impulse 
given by its culture has had marked effect upon 
the condition of the county. Land held at nomi- 
nal prices has increased in value. Mountain sides 
and tops that seemed destined forever to wear 
their vesture and crown of forest have been 
brought into cultivation. Men that ten years ago 
scarcely knew the sight or name of money have 
become prosperous and relatively rich, and the 
county is now one most forward in improvement. 

The soil is prolific in other products. All the 
grains are prolific in yield, and the grasses flour- 
ish in remarkable luxuriance, stock-raising being 
a very considerable source of revenue which 
might be indefinitely enlarged. 

The mineral wealth of the county is known to 
be great, but undeveloi)ed. Magnetic iron and 
other ores of the same metal are found in numer- 
ous localities. Corundum of good quality is 
found on Ivy River and tributaries. Barytes is 
mined to some extent below Marshall, and a com- 
pany is organizing to prepare it for market. Lime 
exists in a vein of half a mile in breadth, exhibit- 
ing itself in lofty and picturesque cliffs a mile 
below the Warm Springs. 

The French Broad River bisects the county, 
passing through it, a broad roaring torrent be- 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 245 

tween precipitous liills, encroacliing so closely 
upon the river as to leave little room for human 
habitation or enterprise. Laurel River and Ivy 
River both come in on the right bank, large bold 
streams, each cutting its way through the moun- 
tains, presenting characteristics similar to those 
of the French Broad and equally unavailable as 
water power. 

Marshall, the county seat, is situated in a nar- 
row strip of land between overtopping hills and 
the river, with a breadth of less than a hundred 
yards and a length of less than half a mile. It 
has a population of about 200, active and enter- 
prising, and is the centre of a large tobacco busi- 
ness, there being here two tobacco sales ware- 
houses. 

Warm Springs, 16 miles below Marshall, is the 
most noted spot in the county, celebrated for its 
warm baths, its extensive hotel, and the beauty 
of its surroundings. Its importance is confined 
altogether to its character as a health and pleas- 
ure resort. 

The population of the whole county bv the 
census of 1880 was 12,840. 

HENDERSON COUNTY 

has an area of 360 square miles and a population of 
10,281 by the census of 1880. This county is di- 
vided by the Blue Ridge into two unequal parts, 
a considerable portion of it lying on the south, 
on the South Carolina line, and on the east 
bounded by Polk County, being in the Piedmont 
section. The remainder, or mountain plateau, 
is bordered on the east and south by the same 
range, and intersected at wide intervals by low 
ranges of mountains extending toward tlie north- 



246 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 

Avest, it is closed in by tlie Pisgali range, the 
j)eak of tliat name being the common centre for 
the county lines of Henderson, Transylvania, 
Buncombe and Haywood. 

The county is intersected by numerous streams. 
Green River, at the foot of the Blue Ridge, flows 
eastward between that range and the Saluda 
Mountains, and is an affluent of the Broad 
River, flowing south into South Carolina. The 
French Broad flows through the north-western 
part of the county, and receiving the waters 
of Mills River, Mud Creek and other consider- 
able streams, becomes a bold broad stream, 
which by approi)riations from the Government 
has been made navigable for small steamboats. 

A remarkable feature of this county is the ap- 
parent great depression of its surface, and the 
width of the valleys along the streams, assuming, 
as on Mud Creek, the character of wide sw^amps. 
The whole interior of the county presents the 
aspect of one valley into which project like elon- 
gated promontories small ranges of mountains. 
Looking north-west from Henderson ville the eye 
sw^eeps over a level expanse of thirty miles, closed 
at that distance by the Pisgah range. 

The soil of this county is good, though not so 
fertile as other mountain counties, with the ex- 
ception of the valleys, which are productive in 
grains and grass. Fruits are abundant and excel- 
lent. The mineral wealth of the county is not 
great. Limestone of excellent quality for the 
kiln is found on the west side of the French 
Broad, and is largely burned for the Asheville 
market. 

Hendersonville, with a population of about one 
thousand, is the county seat. 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. ' 347 

TRANSYLVANIA 

is a true mountain county, having on its whole 
southern border the Blue Kidge in its most mass- 
ive and imposing form ; and being the starting 
point for the Pisgali and Balsam ranges, which 
stretch through the county towards the north. 
The only exception to the rugged nature of the 
surface is presented by the valleys along David- 
son's River, and along the French Broad and its 
tributaries, all of which flow through broad and 
fertile valleys, and all of these in cultivation and 
in a high state of improvement. These val- 
leys are the foundation of the stock-raising 
which at present is the great source of revenue to 
the county ; and great efforts by intelligent 
men are made to improve breeds, and still further 
develox3 this important industry. Much the 
largest portion of the county is in forest, cov- 
ered with the usual timbers of the mountain, all 
of which attain enormous size from the great fer- 
tility of the soil. 

The land reduced to tillage produces grasses, 
the cereals, tobacco and all the fruits of the tem- 
perate zone in great excellence. 

There has been no development of mineral 
treasure ; but there is enough known to predicate 
in the future a large exposure of mines ()f gold, 
silver, lead, nickel, copper, asbestos, corundum 
and mica, all of which are known to exist in the 
wilderness of the Balsam and Pisgah solitudes. 

The area of the county is 330 square miles, Avith 
a population of 5,340. Brevard, a small village 
of 200 inhabitants, is the county seat. 



248 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 



HAYWOOD COUNTY. 

This large and beautiful county is as remark- 
able for tlie long extent of its mountain ranges 
and tlie lieight of its numerous mountain peaks, 
as it is for the extent of its valley system and the 
fertility of its soil. 

The Pisgah range skirts it partly on the east, cul- 
minating in the pyramidal cone of Pisgah Mount:; in 
rising to the height of 5,750 feet. This range, in- 
terrupted by a depression of several miles, is con- 
tinued by the New Found range extended to the 
Tennessee line. A spur or range projects north- 
ward between the East and West Forks of Pigeon 
River, the highest peak of which is Cold Moun- 
tain, rising to the height of 6,063. Along the 
western border extends the massive line of the 
Balsam Mountains, in this county attaining their 
greatest elevation. Here are fifteen peaks of more 
than 6,000 feet in height. Richland Balsam is 
6,425 feet high and Double Spring Balsam is 6,380. 

The Western North Carolina Railroad, by the 
Murphy branch, crosses this range at Scott's 
Creek Gap at an elevation of 3,357 feet. 

The valley system is no less remarkable than 
that of the mountains, and a just proportion has 
been observed between what must be given up to 
the undisiDuted sway of nature and what can be 
reduced to the use of man. 

The most important of these valleys are those 
which lie along the Pigeon River, and on its two 
main tributaries, the East and West Forks. 
These extend to the headwaters of those streams, 
and are from a quarter of a mile to a half mile in 
width, of great beauty and surpassing fertility, 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 249 

producing abundantly wheat, corn, rye and oats, 
clover and all the grasses. They are held at a 
high value, the i)rices being from $75 to $100 per 
acre. After the junction of the East and West 
Forks the united streams flow northward through 
the same broad valley until it enters the Smoky 
Mountains, and is then contracted into a narrow 
gorge or canon, and passes out of the State of 
S'orth Carolina a bold tumultuous stream. It is 
remarkable that this river has its whole course 
in North Carolina within the County of Haywood. 

Richland Creek, a stream of considerable vol- 
ume, affords another broad and fertile valley of 
about twelve miles in length. Jonathan's Creek, 
rising on the top of the Balsam Mountains, at the 
Soco Ga^D, flows eastwardly with a course of about 
fifteen miles through a valley constantly increas- 
ing in width, beauty and fertility, until it loses 
itself in Pigeon River. Along this valley are some 
of the most i^roductive lands in Haywood County. 
Crabtree and Jones' Creek have each their valleys 
of less extent, but not of inferior value. 

The mountain lands, except on the summits of 
the higher ranges, which are densely wooded with 
the balsam fir, are very fertile. The sides and 
summits of the lower ridges, when cleared, prove 
adapted by nature to the production of grasses in 
great luxuriance. Herds grass, timothy, red top 
and clover take readily to the soil. Within the 
last two years the ijoapratensis, the genuine Ken- 
tucky blue grass, has appeared spontaneously, as 
did the lespldeza or Japan clover, and will greatly 
add to the value of the mountain pastures. Stock 
raising is followed to considerable extent, and 
efforts are made to improve the value of the breeds. 
Sheej) thrive, but are mostly of native breed, with 



260 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 

little general effort at improvement. In the deeper 
mountain recesses tlieir increase, and even their 
existence, is controlled by the presence of wolves, 
which are found in considerable numbers. 

Fruits grow to great perfection, and the apples 
of Haywood are famous all over the mountain 
regions. 

Tobacco, in portions of the county, has become 
an important article of industry, and the superi- 
ority of the product must tend to the increase of 
culture ; the bright yellow tobacco proving little 
inferior to that of Granville, while the darker 
grades have characteristics in common with the 
famous Henry County tobacco of Virginia. 

In mineral wealth there has been no develop- 
ment except in mica, which has been worked to 
considerable extent at Micadale, near Waynes- 
ville. Gold, copper, iron, lead, asbestos, and 
other minerals are knowm to exist, but no mines 
are worked. 

Haywood County has an area of 740 square 
miles, with a population of 10,271. Waynesville 
is the county seat, with a population of about 800. 
Near it are the White Sulphur Springs, remarka- 
ble for the surpassing beauty of their surrounding 
scenery, and with some repute as curative waters. 

JACKSON COUNTY 

has an area of 920 square miles and had a popu- 
lation of 7,348 by the census of 1880. It extends 
from South Carolina on the south nearly 
across the State, being separated by the narrow 
county of Swain from the State of Tennessee. 
The general form is one broad valley lying be- 
tween the Balsam Mountains on the east and the 
Cowee Mountains on the west. But the term 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 261 

valley would convey an erroneous idea, since the 
space between these two dominant ranges is filled 
with numerous cross chains, making the moun- 
tain character predominant, while the val- 
leys are exceptional. These are confined to the 
borders of the Tuckaseege River, a stream at- 
taining before it passes out of the county a con- 
siderable volume and an averao-e width of two 
hundred feet ; and to its tributaries the East and 
West Forks and Caney River, and to the smaller 
streams, such as Cullowhee, Savannah Creek, 
Barker's Creek, Soco and Scott's Creek, all of 
which flow through vales of surpassing beauty 
and fertility. These valleys are the present seat 
of culture. Little encroachment has yet been 
made on the massive forests which clothe the 
hills and mountains. Nowhere in the mountain 
country is the timber more varied in kind or more 
majestic in size. The buckeye attains the height 
of one hundred and twenty feet with a diameter 
of four feet. The poplar and chestnut are of 
enormous growth. Oaks of several species, cher- 
ry, linn or bass wood, hickory, walnut, maple, 
ash, all are abundant and of great size. With the 
exception of the high plateau at the south end of 
the county where Casher's Valley is situated, and 
where the soil is light and somewhat thin, the 
soil is of great fertility, remarkable for the high 
percentage of productive arable lands. 

The usual crops and fruits of the mountain 
section thrive luxuriantly. Tobacco is found to 
be well adapted to both soil and climate, and its 
culture is increasing. 

This county is very rich in minerals though 
there has been little development of quantity or 
value. Several copper veins of ascertained rich- 



252 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 

ness have been opened. Chromic iron is found 
in large quantities near Webster. Nickel ores or 
Genthites are found in the same locality. Other 
ores of Kon are abundant. Mica, asbestos, co- 
rundum are also abundant. 

In the northern part of the county along the 
Tuckaseege River, and along the waters of Soco 
Creek, is an Indian reservation inhabited by the 
families of Cherokees, who are also distributed 
through the adjacent counties of Swain and Gra- 
ham. The whole number in these counties is 
nearly fifteen hundred. They have adopted the 
habits of the white men, and are engaged in ag- 
ricultural pursuits. Tliey have their schools and 
churches, and are under the guardianship of their 
Chief, W. J. Smith, an educated and intelli- 
gent native. 

The county seat of Jackson County is Webster 
with a population of about two hundred. 

MACON COUNTY 

Extends from the South Carolina and Georg-ia liaes on 
the south northward to the southern boundary of Swam 
County. It lies between the Cowee range on the east and 
the Nantahala Mountains on the west ; while along the 
southern border stretches the Blue Ridge here assuming its 
boldest, most precipitous and picturesque forms, the prec- 
ipices of Whitesides, Black Rock, Fodder Stack, Satvola and 
Scaly breaking down towards the south with perpendicular 
faces of a depth of from 1000 to 1500 feet. The highest peak 
in the Cowee range is the Yellow Mountain, 5,133 feet high. 
The Nantahala Mountains are a majestic range, beginning 
with Pickens Nose 4,926 feet high, thence extending north- 
ward with a uniform general height of about 5000 feet, the 
highest point being the Yv^ayah, near where the State 



OF NOETH CAROLINA. 253 

crosses the Gap at a height of 4,138 feet, that mountain being 
6,494 feet in height. Between the Tennessee river and its 
tributary the Cullasagee, a range extends northward from 
the Blue Ridge terminating near the confluence of these 
streams ; the highest point of which is the Fish Hawk 4,749 
feet in height. Numerous shorter spurs project at right 
angles from the main chains of the Cowee and the Nanta- 
hala between which are streams of ten or twelve miles in 
length flowing through broad and fertile valleys. The 
chief of these are Cartoogajay, Way ah, Cowee and 
Ellijay. 

The Tennessee river is the principal stream, rising in 
Georgia near Rabun Gap and flowing northward through 
a flne valley of great fertility, until it unites with the 
Tuckaseege. The current of this stream is more gentle than 
any found among the mountains, and the fall is so gradual 
that it is selected as a railroad route, the grade not exceeding 
47 feet to the mile through the whole length of Macon 
County. The whole valley of the Tennessee is in cultivation, 
the whole being very fertile. 

The next largest stream is the Cullasagee or Sugar Fork 
of the Tennessee. This stream in its whole length has a 
tumultuous course, rising on the Ligh plateau of the High- 
lands, 4,000 feet above ^.^a level, and cutting its way down 
to the level of the Tennessee through the opposing moun- 
tains in a series of rapids, cascades and cataracts, adding 
greatly to picturesque effect, but except as water power, 
adding nothing of economical value. The Nantahala is a 
beautiful mountain stream, having its bed in a trough on 
almost the top of the Nantahala Mountains, the depression 
between that range and the Valley River or Tusquittah 
Mountains being very small. 

The area of open land, assimilating in character to the 
features of the Piedmont country is greater than in any 
other western county. Farms are more numerous and more 



254 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 

continuous and population more dense ; the soil is produc- 
tive. 

Minerals are abundant, but no mines are worked except 
those of corundum and mica. The former near the Cullasa- 
gee are worked extensively, the product being about thirty- 
tons a month. Mica is mined extensively in several locali- 
ties. 

The area of the county is 650 square miles, with a popu- 
lation of about 10,000. 

Franklin is the county seat, with a population of about 
500. 

Highlands is a new village established by northern set- 
tlers as a Sanitarium on the crest of the Blue Ridge on a 
broad plateau, at an elevation of 3,750 feet above the sea. 
It is thriving, and has a population of about 500, represent- 
ing 31 States and territories. It is proposed to connect the 
village with the general railroad system at Rabun Gap. 

J. D. 0. 

THE SOUTHWESTERN COUNTIES. 

The counties of Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Macon, Swain, 
Jackson and Haywood occupy the extreme southwestern 
portion of the State and abound in the finest scenerj^ as well 
as the best water powers and manufacturing opportunities 
offered by any portion of the country. The area of this 
section is estimated rather lowly at 3,910 square miles, of 
which a little more than 305 square miles is under cultiv- 
ation, divided into 6,100 farms, with a population of 43,295, 
and a production amounting annually to $1,056,005, accord- 
ing to the Census report of 1880. 

The resources of this section are as yet almost entirely 
undeveloped, but the Western JTorth Carolina Railroad and 
the Marietta, iv. Georgia (^ IVIurpliy Railroad are now fast 
pushing their iron tracks zntc its interior, and already the 
prospector is abroad looking for profitable locations to in- 



OF NOETH CAKOLINA. 255 

vest capital in manufactures, mining and agricultural pur- 
suits. 

The timbered land amounts to at least twelve-thirteenths 
of the entire area and is covered generally with a heavy 
growth of almost all the varieties of the oak except the live 
oak, interspersed with white and scaly bark hickory ; 
tulip or (poplar) of two varieties, cucumber and wahoo. 
white ash, wild cherry, (black and bird cherry) black and 
white walnut, black and sweet gum, red, white, mountain 
and ash-leaved maples, persimmon, dogwood, chestnut and 
chinquapin, red, yellow and black birch, sassafras, white, 
yellow and black pines, hemlock (or spruce pine), linn or 
lime, snowdrop tree, black, yellow and honey locust, 
yellow wood (virgilia lutea), crab apple, service, hornbeam 
and iron wood, sycamore etc. Portions of Cherokee, Graham, 
Swain and Macon Counties contain very large quantities of 
chestnut oak as well as hemlock, and can thus furnish the 
materials for the largest tanning operations, as the climate 
and waters are so mild and pure as to oflPer great inducements 
in this line as soon as the Railroads are completed to this 
section. 

The agricultural products embrace all the cereals culti- 
vated in the temperate zone. Wheat, oats, rye, barley, 
buckwheat, corn, etc. , grow extremely well and yield large 
crops of very fine grain. Grasses also, such as red and 
white clover, timothy, orchard gi'ass, herdsgrass, millet, 
etc., do well and yield good and remunerative crops, and I 
have a sample of orchard grass cut from a field which has 
been seeded twelve years and cut twace each season, which 
measures five feet in length. The Italian rye-grass bids fair 
to be one of the best grasses for the mountains, as it is finer 
in quality than the orchard grass, grows quickly after it 
is cut and bears cutting well and grows very thick on the 
ground. 

The bright leaf tobacco has just been introduced here and 



256 COAL AND IRON C0UNTIE8 

bids fair to be a great success as it does well, and samples 
have been shown valued at a dollar a pound, and whole 
crops have been sold as high as thii^ty cents a pound. The 
dairy has as yet received but little attention, but the quality 
of the butter made here where the cattle feed on our natural 
grasses and wild pea vines is not excelled in any section. 
Fruits of all kinds grow readily, such as apples, x)ears, 
plums, peaches, grapes, and all the small fruits, and it 
would be hard to find any section which will excel this in 
this respect. Grapes seldom fail in making a good crop ; 
peaches are uncertain in some localities, but the other fruits 
succeed well and large quantities of them are shipped reg- 
ularly to market both as green fruit and dried. 

There is a large amount of balsam timber in parts of 
Jackson, Swain and Haj'wood Counties which offer induce- 
ments to establish the manufacture of chewing gum, as it is 
of a very superior character and at present is not utilized, 
although one of our sister states annually sends abroad 
$100,000 worth of spruce chewing gum. 

The minerals of this section are abundant and quite 
vai'ied. Gold is found in Cherokee, Clay and Macon Coun- 
ties and has been worked quite extensively by ordinary 
placer mining with the use of hydrauhc power in a few 
places. Vein or quartz mining is carried on only on a small 
scale. Silver is found in small quantities in connection with 
galena, but there has been but little work done on this line. 
Iron is found in large quantities in Cherokee of the very 
purest varieties of limonites. Magnetic ore is found in 
Macon and Haywood Counties, but has not been worked 
much although some of it is of very fine quality. Corundum 
is found in Clay, Macon, Jackson and Haywood Counties 
in very large quantities, also mica ; and those minerals have 
brought in a large amount of money and are yet destined 
to yield a large amount of wealth to the citizens. 

Marble of almost every sliade of color is found in Cherokee, 



OF Is'OETH CAROLINA. 257 

Macon and Swain Counties, also soapstone; and the 
Western North Carolina Railroad will soon run through 
this entire belt in such close proximity to the marble and 
soapstone as to enable parties to load it directly from the 
quarries into the cars. The soapstone has heretofore brou ght 
much money into the country and with the aid of E. R. 
transportation we may look for the amount to be spent for 
it to be much increased. 

Manganese is found in Cherokee and Macon Counties of 
fine quality but has not as yet been utilized, although it can 
be furnished in large quantities. 

Nickel is found in Jackson and probably in Macon 
and Clay Counties, also chromic iron ; which are much 
sought after at this time by parties wishing to purchase, 
but there is no work done of importance in developing the 
mines. 

I have given you the facts in regard to this country so 
that you may arrange them to suit youi'self. I will, how- 
ever, give you a few dimensions of timber which you can 
use if you wish. A black walnut in Graham County is 76 
inches in diameter 12 feet from the stump. A wild grape 
vine grew on the farm of James Farmer, 2 miles below 
Murphy on Hiwassee River, 15 inches in diameter. I have 
measured an apparently sound tulip tree 36 feet in cir- 
cumference. I have just cut a wild cherry four feet in 
diameter at the stump, 47 feet of beautiful sound body to 
the fork where it is fully three feet in diameter. Sassafras 
gi'ows to be four feet in diameter on Snowbird. Peruvian 
bark does not grow here; the so-called tree is a variety of 
wild cherry. 

I notice that the yellow wood you mention in " Woods 
and Timbers''^ is a very different plant from our yellow- 
wood which grows sometimes to be a tree two feet in 
diameter, wood very hard and strong, takes a fine polish and 
is one of the finest timbers to make nice canes. It is classed 



258 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 

by Gray as Cladeastis tinctoria and by Michaux as Virgilia 
lutea. 

The people are kind and hospitable and are desirous to 
have colonists come among them and aid them in utilizing 
the immense resources of the county, and by this means 
make this section one of the most desirable in the world 
for beauty, healthful ness, and everything necessary to 
make mankind comfortable and happy . W. B. 

ALLEGHANY COUNTY 

Was formed out of a portion of Ashe in 1859. But owing 
to the war and its results did not get fairlj^ under way as a 
county until 1870. 

The territory composing the county, while belonging to 
the county of Ashe, being remotely situated from any cen- 
tre of trade, had made slow progress in development. 
The lands being cheap, were principally held by a few men 
whose other capital was not sufficient to put them in 
a proper state of cultivation. The consequence was that 
farming was carried on in a rude state. The forests of 
heavy timber required an amount of labor to remove them 
so great that the then land owners, when they had 
succeeded in removing the forest from a spot of land, 
would continuously cultivate it in corn, oats, rye, buck- 
wheat, etc. , as long as it would return a sufficient yield 
of grain to repay them for their labor of cultivation. 
Scattered over the county, however, one would occasion- 
ally find a community of more enterprising men who had 
made more progress in developing the splendid lands of 
which it is composed. 

Nature has evidently formed this county for one grand 
purpose, to wit : Grazing, and as a consequence, stock 
raising and dairy farming. After the war, a younger and 
more active class of men came to the front, and seeing as 
they did for what nature had formed the county, they 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 259 

went to work to put it in a condition to carry out the origi- 
nal purpose of its formation, and for a backwoods county 
as remotely situated as it is the progress has been wonder- 
ful. Where but a few short years ago roamed the wolf 
and the bear, and others of their kind, now upon thou- 
sands of acres of the same soil the luxuriant timothy, 
clover, blue grass, orchard grass, and in fact all the grasses 
may be seen upon which the improved breeds of cattle and 
sheep, with the best grades of horses and mules, annually 
feed preparatory for market. 

While this improvement is so marked in the last few 
years, it is not the only evidence of the improvement of the 
county. Roads have been constructed in every direction. 
Churches and school-houses dot many of the hills. Lum- 
ber and planing mills have gone up in many sections, 
while many more are under and in contemplation. In the 
principal portion of the county land has advanced from 
about an average of $2 to about $12 per acre, and is still 
going up. Farming in all its branches has greatly im- 
proved ; the reaper and mower have displaced the old 
sickle and scythe. The yield of wheat will no^v average 
about 15 bushels to the acre of unimproved lands, where a 
few short years ago it was not grown at all. Corn and 
other grains return a much larger yield than before from 
unimproved lands, the result of improved system of farm- 
ing, while from the improved lands the return of course is 
much greater. 

While this is so in the greater portion of the county, 
still there are yet large bodies of land, notably one sectioa 
of the county, the southeastern, in which may be found 
as much as four or five thousand acres of unbroken forest, 
in a body of timber upon lands that when reclaimed wnll 
furnish as fine grazing as any lands in the world, that even 
now maj^ be purchased for $4 to $5 per acre, the timber of 
which upon any railroad line in the United States would 



260 COAL AND IKON COUNTIES 

bring ten times the price of tlie lands, besides paying for 
its removal. 

While the county is truly a mountain county, it is not 
so rough as some of the neighboring counties in Virginia 
and North Carolina. The country is rolling, but has none 
of the high mountains covered with rock that is common 
to the mountain counties. There are not within the bor- 
ders of the county 2,000 acres all told not susceptible of 
profitable cultivation. 

As a further evidence of the thrift and prosperity of the 
county, two large and well patronized institutions of learn- 
ing of high grade have sprung up in the county — the Alle- 
ghany Collegiate Institute at Sparta, and Laurel Springs 
Academy at Laurel Springs. Then the increase of popu- 
lation from 1870 to 1880 was about 56 per cent., and has 
been more rapid since that time. As a further evidence, 
not $50 of taxes has been collected by distraint in five 
years, nor has $100 worth of property been sold under ex- 
ecution during that time. 

Of minerals there are numerous beds of iron in many 
sections of the county, with valuable deposits of copper in 
some sections, notably the Peach Bottom copper mines 
now being worked by a company of Baltimore gentlemen. 

The forests are covered with all classes of the oaks, pop- 
lar, hickory, walnut, buckeye, cherry, beach, ash, chest- 
nut, with pine, both white and yellow, in some small sections. 

The soil is well adapted to the growth of all the cereals as 
well as tobacco, but until there are more convenient mar- 
kets for shipment of the product of the soil it is evident that 
stock raising is the most profitable to the farmer. 

The religious societies are principally Methodist and Bap- 
tist. 

The county site, Sparta, is a thriving little tillage in the 
centre of the county, which is now showings substantial evi- 
dence of rapid growth. 



OF NORTH OATtOLINA. 261 

As a fruit growing region the county is unsurpassed. 

The county is traversed by New River, the fountain of 
the Kanawha, which with its tributaries furnishes an amount 
of water power far beyond what will be utilized for genera- 
tions to come. 

The probability of the Cape Fear and Y. V. R. R. pene- 
trating the county at no distant day has given a stimulus 
to the country and he who sees the county penetrated by 
any R. R. line will find it one of the most desirable spots 
on the continent. E. L. V. 

ASHE COUNTY 

Lies in the extreme northwestern corner of the State, and 
is bounded on the north and west by other states. It is 
about 30 or 32 miles in length from east to west, and about 
29 in breadth from north to south. It contains about 600 
square miles of territory. The Blue Ridge separates Ashe 
from Wilkes. The Stone Mountain is the line between it 
and Tennessee. 

It is watered by the North and the South Forks of New 
River, and has jjerhaps the greatest water power of any 
county in the State on account of the large creeks and streams 
that flow down into the river with such rapidity from the 
mountains. 

The country is hilly and mountainous. Of course there are 
valleys of level land. Its altitude is on an average about 
3,000 feet above the sea. About one-fourth of the land is 
cleared and in grass or other crops ; but grass is the staple, 
though wheat, rye, corn, buckwheat, Irish potatoes, etc., 
are raised plentifully. 

The timber is oak of various kinds, chestnut, hickory, 
walnut, ash, beech, birch, white pine, spruce pine, with 
hundreds of others down to the ivy and rhododendron, 
which is being sought after so much. All kinds of fruit of 
this latitude grow finely here, apples, peaches, peai^s, plums, 
cranberries, etc. 



362 . COAL AND lEOlS^ COUNTIES 

The population was 14,437 in 1880, and are agricultural 
in their pursuits generally ; Methodist and Baptist in their 
religion, democratic and republican in their politics, pretty- 
equally divided. Jefferson is its county town, with Court 
House and about 300 people. 

Several copper mines are in operation in the county. 
Mica is mined here and some magnetic iron is now made 
from the very large fields of that ore in this county. 

There are curious places here. Long-Hope Creek falls 
1,000 feet in about a mile. The Bluff, the Bald, the Phoenix 
and Three Top Mountains are grand. J. W. T. 

WATAUGA COUNTY. 

Watauga is one of the best of the mountain counties of 
North Carolina, less developed than most of them, but be- 
hind none in its natural resources as a grain, grass, live 
stock, dairy, fruit, wine and lumber region. It abounds in 
undeveloped mineral wealth, one of the many copper mines 
in and around Elk Knob being the only one which has as 
yet been actively worked, and extensive operations on it 
have only very recently commenced. The scenery and 
summer climate of Watauga will soon advertise the county 
and insure that it will be much resorted to in summer. The 
Railroad to Cranberry near the Watauga line makes Wa- 
tauga accessible now from the west, northwest and south- 
west. On the east and south the nearest railroad stations as 
yet are Hickory, Icard and Morganton ; with the best road 
from Hickory by way of Lenoir. W. W. L. 

MITCHELL COUNTY. 

The population of Mitchell County is now 12, 000 or 13,000 
(about 3 1-2 per cent, colored). The land is hilly and moun- 
tainous, but very productive even to the tops of the high- 
est mountains. 

The principal crops of grain raised are wheat, cornj rye, 



OF NORTH CAEOLINA. 263 

oats, and buckwheat. The production per acre on land 
without manure is from 20 to 40 bushels of corn ; 15 to 20 
bushels of wheat; 20 to 30 bushels of oats; 20 to 25 bushels 
of rye ; and buckwheat, 30 to 40 bushels. Vegetables of all 
kinds grow well. We raise from 50 to 200 bushels of Irish 
potatoes per acre, and cabbage, turnips, beets, parsnips, 
etc. , do equally well. Some very fine tobacco is raised in 
this county. All of the grasses, especially timothy and 
clover grow well. Timothy will grow as high as a man's 
head on the hills and mountain sides without manuring. 
This is without doubt one of the best counties in the State 
for stock raising. Land can be bought at from |2 to $10 per 
acre. 

A narrow gauge railroad runs from Johnson City,Tenn., 
to Cranberry Forge in the N.E. part of the county, but 
Marion, N. C, and Johnson City, Tenn., ai*e the nearest 
R. R. stations to Bakers ville, the latter being 38, and the 
former 35 miles. 

Our people are quiet and law abiding, and for the most 
part industrious, but we have few good farmers, the most 
of them following the old ways. 

This is a good fruit county, especially for apples. 

The county is rich in iron ore and mica. Mica is found 
in almost every section, and new discoveries are made al- 
most every week. 

The county abounds in timber such as cherry, poplar, 
white oak, ash, maple, linn, cucumber, etc. Black 
walnut is not so plentiful as it has been, owing to the great 
quantity shipped Vvdthin the last two or three years. 

Our people are, perhaps, nearer on an equality than in 
any other place. We have no wealthy people and but few 
very poor, a very large majority of the heads of families 
being land owners and very few who do not own land. 

The water power is all that could be desired. Mountain 
trout abound in the head waters of most of the streams. 



264: COAL A2iD IRON COUiNliEb 

Some deer and wild turkeys are stiU to be found and 
smaller game is abundant. 

The health of this county is as good as can be found any 
where. We have no extreme heat nor cold — the mean 
temperature in summer is about 71^, and in winter about 
36^ above zero. The water is pure freestone. 

The population of Bakersville, the county seat, is about 
500 or 600. 

Eoan Mountain, the highest in the State, except the Black, 
is in this county and within two hours' ride of Bakers- 
ville. 

Baptist and Methodist are the principal religious denom- 
inations, though there are some Episcopalians and Pres- 
byterians here. - J. H. G . 

HENDERSON COUNTY. 

This county was formed in 1838, is situated in the south- 
western part of the State of North Carolina, and forms a 
pai't of its western division. Its county seat is Henderson- 
ville, one of the most beautiful villages in the State, on the 
S. & A. R. R., containing a population of about 800. It is 
situated on the southern dip of the Blue Ridge Mountains, 
overlooking the Ochlawaha valley and a wide expanse of 
country unsurpassed in grandeur and beauty. 

The county has a population of 13, 500, and contains very 
nearly as much bottom or meadow lands as all the other 
counties west of the Blue Ridge. It is traversed by the 
French Broad River, Mills River, Green River, and Broad 
River, besides Clear Creek, Hooper's Creek, Crab Creek, 
Shaw's Creek, and the Ochlawaha, — tributaries of the 
French Broad. 

Its soil is peculiarly adapted to the cultivation of the 
grasses, and it is considered one of the best stock raising 
counties in the State. The forest lands are covered with all 
woods peculiar to the mountains of western North Caro- 



OF NOKTH CAliOLINA. 265 

una, containing all kinds of oak, with pine, chestnut, wal- 
nut, poplar, ash, hirch, linden, hickory, locust, etc. 
The products of the county are tobacco, corn, wheat, oats, 
rye, grass and live stock, fruits and vegetables. Improved 
meadow lands sell from $10 to $30 per acre, owing to loca- 
tion, and other lands can be bought in quantities from 50 
cents to $15 per acre. 

There are 49 public schools in this county — 38 of which 
are for white children, and 11 for colored children ; besides 
private schools kept up at individual expense. 

Henderson ville is the principal point of shipment, from 
which are shipped in large quantities cattle, hogs, sheep, 
corn, fruits, vegetables, poultry and lumber. 

This county is a summer resort for people from all parts 
of the South and Northwest. It is celebrated for its beauti- 
ful residences, and its climate (Winter and Summer) can- 
not be surpassed in the world. Great attention is being 
paid to agriculture and improved stock. Lime is found in 
great abundance. This county, bordering on the State of 
South Carolina, and connected by railroads with the cotton 
fields of the south, is destined at an early day to be of great 
importance as a manufacturing locality. It contains some 
of the finest water powers in the South, capable of turning 
millions of spindles. The people, owing to their extraordi- 
nary educational facilities, are intelligent and hospitable. 
They are anxious for immigration. W. W. J. 



Wilkes County, 



Wilkes is one of the older counties of the State, and was 
originally a county embracing a very large territory. But 
the policy of carving new counties out of portions of old 
on#s, some years since so popular, stripped her of much of 



266 COAL AI^D IROK COUNTIES 

her best land, as well as most desirable portions of her 
population. Much of the territory of Alexander, Caldwell 
and Watauga Counties, I think, was taken from Wilkes. 
She is, however, still a county of a very considerable terri- 
tory, containing a population of about twenty thousand in- 
habitants. A good many historical incidents might be 
introduced that would be interesting to the general reader, 
but not pertinent to the purpose of this sketch. Suffice it 
to say on this point, that she has furnished one Governor 
for the State and other individuals favorably known 
throughout the State, as well as being of influence at home. 
General Gordon, Col. StoJ^ies, Major Carmichael, and Col. 
W. M. Barber, whose lives were sacrificed in the late war, 
were all residents of this county ; the first three were 
natives. 

This county lies mainly between the highest ridges of the 
Blue Ridge, on the northwest, and those of the Brushy 
Mountains, on the southeast. The slopes of these two 
mountain ranges furnish the water sheds which meet in 
the Yadkin River. These water sheds abound in streams 
of much beauty, furnishing at the same time, by means of 
their many waterfalls and shoals, very abundant water 
power ; while along their banks there is very fertile and 
beautiful land for farming purposes. Beginning on the 
west side of the Yadkin River, next to the Caldwell line, 
and going northeast, we encounter the Elk, Stony Fork, 
Lewis Forks (north and south prongs coming together near 
the Yadkin), Reddie's River, dividing into three prongs as 
we approach the Blue Ridge, Mulberry, Rock Creek, Bugga- 
boo and Roaring River. The latter, some eight miles above 
its mouth, divides into three prongs, each one of which is 
sufficient to carry a considerable amount of machinery. 
Much might be said in behalf of the water power furnished 
by each of these streams, separately, but being better ac- 
quainted with Roaring River and Reddie's River through- 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 267 

out their whole length than with any of the others, 
unci believing them to differ little from the others in 
jiatural features, I will say a few words about these two 
only. 

Such are the shoals and general fall of these two streams 
that one might safely say factories could be established at 
intervals of one mile throughout their whole course. The 
beauty of this water power lies in the cheapness of dams. 
A dam four feet high, with a canal two hundred yards 
]ong, in many cases, will afford a head of water, at the pier 
head, of twenty feet. I know of one such case, and believe 
many others could be found. When a dam is^made the 
water is backed for so short a distance that there is no dan- 
ger of injuring low lands or sowing the seeds of local dis- 
eases. Take for instance Dr. Hackett's mill. His dam is 
at the lower end of a shoal. It is not less than ten or 
twelve feet high, and yet there is a rapid current within a 
few hundred yards above it. 

When we begin at the Caldwell line on the opposite side 
of the Yadkin, we encounter Beaver, Warrior, Moravian, 
Fishing, Brier and Swan Creeks. These also furnish gi'eat 
facilities for running machinery. They are, however, 
neither so large, so long, nor so abundant in shoals as those 
on the opposite side of the Yadkin. Moravian Creek fur- 
nishes one site of great beauty and attractiveness, as well 
as of usefulness. It is known as the Moravian Falls. Here 
the stream, after tumbling over shoal after shoal for a con- 
siderable distance, finally leaps down a precipice of some 
thirty or forty feet. These shoals are peculiar, from the 
fact that the shoals and precipice are one solid rock, many 
yards in width and pej*haps several hundred yards in length. 
The only expense incurred to utilize this water power is a 
few sticks of timber, so placed as to conduct the water into 
a fore bay, from which it is poured on to an overshot wheel. 
The other streams on this side of the river are not wanting 



2(j8 coal axij : 110:7 counties 

ill facilities for water power, though nothing striking or 
peculiar pertains to any of them. 

Besides the streams mentioned as flowing into the Yadkin 
there is Hunting Creek, which rises in the Brushy Moun- 
tains, and flowing an easterly dii^ection through Iredell 
empties into the South Yadkin, Davie County, about four 
or five miles from Mocksville. This stream has many fine 
falls which are utilized for propelling machinery. Towards 
its source, however, it is chiefiy noted for the fine corn 
lands afi'orded by its bottoms. It may be said of all these 
streams, as well as of the Yadkin, that the fertility of their 
low lands renders Wilkes a very abundant corn country. 
The Yadkin River flows through the county from the south- 
west towards the northeast, a distance of about forty miles, 
and on both sides there are low lands of considerable ex- 
tent and great fertility. It runs through the county in 
such a way as to have eight townships on its south side and 
ten on its north. The low lands on the river are peculiarly 
adapted to corn ; but, with proper culture, grow wheat, 
rye and oats very well. There are lands on this river that 
are said to have had corn on them for nearly a century 
without any rotation, and still their fertility is seemingly 
unimpaired. They receive recruits from time to 
time from overflows. These overflows are not attended 
with so much disaster to growing crops as in many other 
places, because of the shortness of time during which these 
lands are covered. They are rarely covered longer than 
ten or twelve hours by any one freshet. There is very 
little attention paid to the cultivation of the grasses, though 
doubtless they might be profitably raised. The greatest dis- 
couragement the farmers have in this line is the liability of 
their meadows to be overrun by sedge. 

The ridges and mountain slopes are peculiarly well 
adapted to the raising of the various fruits. The fruit crop 
is here much more certain and of a better quality than on 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 269 

the low lands. One gentleman lias told me that he had 
a peach orchard which had not failed in a course of twenty 
years to produce an abundance of peaches. The Brushy 
Mountain apples, wherever known, are celebrated for their 
fine quality. The late Bishop Atkinson frequently had 
apples from this region sent to him to Wilmington, and I 
have heard him say that, both in his own estimation, and 
that of his friends, they were superior to those obtained 
from any other source whatever. 

Between the Yadkin River and the foot of the Blue Ridge 
there is a large extent of rolling land that can be purchased 
at a low price. This land is very poorly suited for raising 
corn, and though its occupants insist most perseveringly on 
its doing so, it utterly fails, especially in dry seasons to reward 
their toils. Wheat and rj^e, however, can be profitably raised. 
By the aid of fertilizers also tobacco of the finest quality 
can be produced. The tobacco which took the premium at 
the Vienna fair, shipped by Samuel McDowell Tate, was 
raised in Wilkes County. So much also are these slopes ex- 
posed to the sun, that I have often thought that by the 
same appliances cotton might be profitably raised. Tlie ex- 
pense of transportation here would be a hindrance. 

Within the past few years considerable attention has been 
paid to the cultivation of the vine ; and the most sanguine 
expectations of those engaged in it have been fully realized. 
These enterprises are confined to the Yadkin, while it is 
evident that the mountains and ridges are just as superior 
to the river section for the grape, as for any other fruits. 

As to the mineral wealth of this county no important 
developments have, as yet, been made. While gold mav 
be found in almost every part of the county, it is so dif- 
fused as to prevent the collection of it ever being profitable. 

There are mineral springs of the same character as those 
found in various parts of the Piedmont section of the State. 
And as to the healthfulness of the climate there can be no 



270 COAL AND lEON COUNTIES 

question. There are but two practicing physicians in the 
county, and they may be found at home the most of the 
time. 

The timbers of the forests are the various species of oaks, 
pines, the chestnut, walnut, hickory, ash, etc. Walnut 
Grove township abounds in walnut trees of great heights, 
and will furnish logs of considerable diameter. 

The elevation of Wilkesboro above the sea-level is about 
eleven hundred feet. Poor's Knob, a mountain nine miles 
distant, is about sixteen hundred feet above Wilkesboro. 

For the first fifteen miles below Wilkesboro the Yadkin 
falls forty- six feet. 

As in all other mountainous sections there have always 
been very few colored people in this county, and since 
emancipation I think the tendency to emigrate, on the part 
of this race has been such as to prevent any increase ; while 
the voting population of the white race is perhaps twenty- 
five hundred, that of the colored race does not exceed 
five hundred. 

I neglected to mention at the proper time that there is a 
great deal of very rich cove land along the slopes of the 
Blue Ridge and Brushy Mountains, which may be obtained 
on easy terms. These sections rarely sufPer from drought. 
They are so much depressed from the level of the land 
about them as to prevent the soil from becoming very dry ; 
and besides in the dryest seasons there are always partial 
showers which water these coves. R. W. B. 



Caldwell Oonnty, 



Lies in nearly the centre of a tier of counties, known as 
the "Piedmont Section " of North Carolina. The word 
Piedmont is fitly applied — it meaning at the "foot of the 



OF NORTH CAROLI'N'A. 271 

mountain." This belt of country, lying to the eastward 
and southward of the great high wall of the Blue Ridge 
crossing the State diagonally here, is protected by this natu- 
ral barrier from the extreme cold winds and storms that 
prevail in the regions beyond, and embraces what, in many 
respects, is some of the most desirable territory in the whole 
United States. Caldwell lies about equally distant from Vir- 
ginia on the north, and South Carolina on the south. It 
has some claims over all the sister counties lying to the 
right and left. In fact, in some of its physical feat- 
ures, I know of no country on earth that can compare 
with it. 

First, it offers to the fruit grower and agriculturist a 
greater variety of altitudes, in similai* latitudes, than any 
section of the world. The lowest elevation in this county 
is about one thousand feet above sea-level, and the highest 
is nearly six thousand, — at the summit of the Grandfather 
Mountain. We exhibit here, as the growth of this county, 
both Canadian and tro]3ical productions. We have figs, 
grapes and nectarines. The fii* balsam is indigenous here 
also. The renowned " Frostless Belt "of the South runs 
through this coi^pity, and a total failure of the fruit crop 
has never been known. The fact is, this is one of the most 
reliable sections for fruit in America. Thousands of bushels 
are annually shipped from this county, sellmg in markets 
elsewhere . The apples grown are remarkable for the keep- 
ing qualities. It is no uncommon thing for the farmers to 
keep them the whole year round. At this writing (June 
5th) I have luscious apples grown in 1882, while on my 
table are cherries and strawberries of this year's gro'ui^h. 
We have also on hand an abundance of sweet and Irish 
potatoes of last year's growth. I kept on exhibition here 
some time ago an apple that had been picked eighteen 
months. It was a seedling, and grovm by the late Wm. A. 
Tuttle. The late Bishop Atkinson used to say that he con- 



272 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 

sidered grapes grown in the vicinity of Lenoii* of finer 
flavor than those he had eaten in Italy. 

But it is not only as a fruit-growing region that this 
county can boast of excellence. Tlie agriculturist here 
finds the verj^ best of corn and wheat lands. A fact worthy 
of note is the productiveness of the soil here under the in- 
fluence of manures. Our clay lands improve with exceed- 
ing rapidity. Some few years ago a gentleman bought a 
"worn-out" place here, and in two seasons of fertilization 
with stable manures he made over twenty bushels of wheat 
to the acre on his crop. As we have the great variety of 
elevation, so we have a great variety of soils. Our light 
gray sandy lands produce the very finest of yellow tobac- 
cos. The tobacco which received the highest award at 
Vienna in 1874 was grown by a citizen of Caldwell County. 

This County is beginning to grow cotton also. With the 
aid of commercial fertilizers on all the best lands of the 
southern portion of the County, very liberal and encour- 
aging crops of this staple were grown during the past two 
years ; and the acreage for 1883 is largely in excess of the 
plant for previous seasons. This has encouraged capitalists 
to utilize valuable waterpower in the cotton-growing sec- 
tion, and a large spinning mill has just been completed on 
Gunpowder Creek, twelve miles south of Lenoir, the 
County site, and near the projected C. & L. N. G. R. R. 
One of the most successful cotton and woollen factories in 
the South has been m operation in this county for many 
years, on the Yadkin River at the village of Patterson, 
eight miles north of Lenoir. There are few handsomer 
manufacturing towns in the South than can be found at 
this place — Patterson. They have in operation there a 
large cotton-spinning and weaving mill, a mill for spin- 
ning and weaving wool, flouring mills and a large wood- 
sawing establishment which turns out considerable quanti- 
ties of finest walnut lumber, also hickory spokes, rims, etc. , 



OF KORTH CAROLINA. 278 

while [>ire lumber is also sawn and shipped North at these 
mills. 

The shipment of hickory and other hard- wood lumber 
has become a very important item in the industries of 
the County, and numerous steam and water mills 
have recently been erected. Our timbers have been 
attracting the attention of lumber men ever since the Phil- 
adelphia Centennial, where the Western North Carolina 
Land Co. had on exhibition a large and interesting collec- 
tion of the native woods of Caldwell County. No County 
can boast a greater variety of useful and ornamental trees. 

Nor can any County show a better exhibit of agricultural 
.products. It has been stated time and again that the pro- 
ductions of this county fill every column in the last U. S. 
Census Reports (Agricultural Department) with perhaps 
only one or two exceptions — West India molasses being one 
of the exceptions. In lieu of this we produce the sorghum 
syrup in finest and largest yields known. 

The mineral exhibit from Caldwell County is almost as 
remarkable as its vegetable productions. Several of the 
more valuable metals are found in abundance in our moun- 
tains. Iron of superior quality is found in many places 
here. Gold-mming has been an important industry for 
many years, but all as yet on a small scale. Much atten- 
tion has been attracted to our mines during the past 
twelve months. To illustrate how this industry manifests 
itself, I will give one instance coming under my own ob- 
servation not long ago, A gentleman having a small 
country store in the mining region of the County, sold 
one day in Lenoir six hundi^ed pennyweights of gold dust 
—the result of a few weeks bartering for the precious metal. 
In addition to this he reserved (as he told me) about 100 
pwts. of finest nuggets. Asbestos is found also in this County 
in great abundance and of superior quality. Several other 
minerals have been discovered here, all of which will 



274 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 

attract more attention on completion of railroad facilities 
into this County. 

The Chester and Lenoir Narrow Gauge Railroad has been 
graded to Lenoir through the County, and contract has 
been made to have cars running to Lenoir — through, from 
Chester, S. C.,— by 1st July, 1884, On the completion of 
this railway a new impetus will be given to the industries 
ot this county. Real estate is already advancing in price, 
and we have so many advantages here to offer to persons 
seeking desirable homes, it is confidently predicted that an 
era of great prosperity is soon to dawn upon us. 

Among the other advantages this county offers is that of 
climate ; for, situated as we are under the protecting shelter 
of the Blue Ridge, we are not subjected to the great ex- 
tremes of heat and cold. We do not have the long and 
rigorous winters that reign in the western counties. While 
their summers are, perhaps, a trifle cooler than ours, our 
springs come earlier and are not subject to the violent 
changes often known there. We have early fruits and 
vegetables from four to six weeks sooner than counties 
lying west of the Ridge. Our fall seasons are longer and 
more enjoyable than theirs. We rarely have more than 
one or two "cold spells " during the winter, these about 
Christmas or early in January. We have occasionally 
some ' ' raw weather, " but the climate generally is dry and 
not so oppressive to consumptives or persons troubled with 
either bronchial, lung, or rheumatic disorders. Physicians 
report this as one of the healthiest counties in the whole 
United States. 

The surface of this county presents a great diversity of 
feature. One-third may be considered mountainous ; one- 
third valley land, and the remainder rolling uplands and 
hills. The valleys are remarkably fertile, pi'oducing gi'ains 
and fruits. The uplands yield well in tobacco, cotton 
and wheat, especially with fertilization. The county is 



OF T^ORTH CAEOLINA. 275 

traversed by four mountain ranges, running parallel, 
Blue Eidge, the Rip Shin, Green, and Brushy Mountains ; 
these lying nearly east and west. The Pine or Lick and 
Globe Mountains are north and south. 

As we have great variety in soil and elevation, so we 
have great range in prices — figures running from fifty cents 
to one hundred dollars per acre for farming lands. Good 
lands can be bought at from five to twenty dollars per 
acre. 

Lenoir, the capital town of Caldwell County, is con- 
sidered one of the handsomest villages in the State. It is 
noted for its fine society, its schools, and churches. The 
Presbyterian, Episcopal and Methodist churches are all near 
the public square. The Baptist church is two miles away. 
The population of the town and suburbs is over five hun- 
dred, and the registers of the various denominations show 
about the same number in membership. 

The town has an important geographical location. It is 
about fifty or sixty miles from the Virginia line on the 
north, the same distance from the South Carolina on the 
South, and same from Tennessee on the west. It is directly 
on an air line from Washington City to Atlanta, Ga. ; on 
an air line from Cincinnati to Charleston ; and an air 
line from Louisville, Ky., to Wilmington. Hence there is 
a probability of Lenoir, at some period of the future, becom- 
ing a railway centre of great importance. Surveys have 
already been made in the direction of Cumberland and 
Round Gaps in Kentucky, with a view to extending the 
narrow-gauge system of railroad coming from South Caro- 
lina into the mineral sections of East Tennessee, West 
Virginia and Kentucky, as their nearest outlets to the 
ocean are through this place. 

While Caldwell County presents but few objects of 
interest to the mere tourist or pleasure seeker, its mountains 
and water courses afford the student of nature a peculiar 



276 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 

study. Althoug-h this county is small in comparison with 
others, it has four* large streams running to the four points 
of the compass. The Yadkin River, rising on the summit 
of Blue Ridge, flows from the village of Patterson through 
the count}^ in an almost easterly direction. John's River, 
rising also in the Blue Ridge, flows in an almost unbroken 
southerly current. The Catawba River, running due east 
also washes the southern base of the county. Lower Creek, 
a large stream rising near the Wilkes line, flows almost 
due westwardly ; while King's Creek, an important tribu- 
tary of the Yadkin River runs nearly due north. The val- 
leys of Lower Creek and Yadkin are separated by the 
Green Mountains. The hunter on the summit of these 
mountains sees the peculiar spectacle of two large streams, 
one on his right flowing west, while the one on his left 
runs east, and far to his front runs the King's Creek at 
right angles to the others. Near Lenoir is the famous 
" Hibriten " Mountain, from the summit of which a good 
view can be had of territory in four states. Far better 
views can be obtained from the summit of the Grandfather 
Mountain which is partly in this county. 

Referring again to the water courses of this county, it is 
said, with much truth, that there is not a farm in the county 
but has a running stream upon it ; and that nearly every 
farmer in the county has a good spring somewhere on his 
place. Very few wells are used in the county, excepting 
in the villages. The water power of this county is among 
the best in North Carolina. 

The county contains several villages, in addition to the 
county town Lenoir. The most important is Patterson, 
the manufacturing village owned by the company, Gwyn. 
Harper & Co. The manufacturmg village of Granite is 
owned by another company operating cotton mills, — Shu- 
ford, Gwyn & Co. Collettsville, 10 miles from Lenoir, 
north-west, is a prosperous place, having two stores, one 



OF NOllTH CAROLINA. 277 

tobacco factory, a flouring mill and two churches. Hart- 
land has two stores and a wagon factory ; a large church 
near by. Lovelady has one store, two churches, a steam 
saw mill and a resident physician. Horse Ford has a toll- 
bridge, one of the most popular flouring mills in the county 
and a large mill for wood working . The flouring mills of 
this county have a reputation extending far into South 
Carolina. L. C. Hope's brand always commands high 
prices. The village of Gainesville has a steam saw^ mill and 
one store, and a large new camp ground near by. Petra 
Mills is also a considerable place of business. 

The churches of this county deserve especial mention, as 
they speak well for the religious influences here. Since the 
war some sixteen new houses of worship besides the large 
Marvin camp ground buildings, have been erected by our 
people, besides repairs and improvements upon older build- 
ings. On none of those houses is there any debt — so far as 
my information extends. In fact our people and our 
county as a whole are not burdened with any excessive 
debt or taxation. The public treasurer pays all the dues of 
the county in cash on demand, and our county scrip has 
been at par for several years; we have no outstanding 
bonds or public liabilities, and our jail is empty nearly all 
the while. It is a rare occurrence to find lands here sold 
for taxes. But few bankruptcies liave ever occurred in the 
county, and business is conducted here on probably as 
small a credit basis as anywhere in the South. These iacts 
may all be accounted for in the high moral tone of the 
people of this community. Our people generally are liberal, 
generous, and have a ready welcome for all new comers 
into this county. Society already is somewhat cosmopol- 
itan, and various states and nationalities are represented in 
the trades, professions and industries of the county. 

M. V. M. 



i?78 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 



Burke County. 

Was organized in 1778, including the territory lying west 
and north of Rowan and Tryon. Its boundary has from 
time to time since been curtailed by the erection of new 
counties as the settlement of the country required, until its 
present limits are confined to what may be called the Ca- 
tawba Valley, embracing, however, the greater part of Lin- 
ville Mountain, Jonas' Ridge and Brown Mountain on its 
western and northern border and the Brushy or South 
Mountains on the south and east. Being thus almost en- 
tirely surrounded by high mountains, the body of the coun- 
ty is an undulating plain of about twenty miles in width, 
traversed by the Catawba River from west to east, which, 
by reason of its numerous affluents, pouring in on either 
side, becomes on the eastern side or end of the county, the 
Great Catawba, requiring bridges or ferries to eif ect a cross- 
ing. These tributaries, on the left, with their sources in 
the great mountains of the north and west, are clear limpid 
streams furnishing almost limitless water powers, with 
large bodies of rich alluvial "bottoms" as they approach 
the parent stream, while those of the south or right side are 
corrupted by the gold washings or red lands of the wheat 
grower till they partake in color of the lands through 
which they pass. 

The plain lands are covered with original forest growth 
of pine and the hard woods in great variety, and the moun- 
tains have, in addition, the white pine, hemlock, locust, 
chestnut, cherry, walnut, etc. Iron, copper, lead, zinc, 
asbestos, mica, etc. , are abundant in the mountains, and in 
the hills and valleys gold has been worked for more than 
fifty years with satisfactory returns. Roofing slate and 
building stone, indeed all kinds of building material are 
abundant and cheap. Twelve millions of brick, made 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 279 

within a mile of Morganton for the Lunatic Asylum, are 
admitted by Samuel Sloan, architect, to be of the best clay 
and finest unpressed finish in the South. 

Pulmonary diseases do not originate here — indeed it is a 
sanitarium for such. The general level of the plain is 
about 1150 feet above tide, while the Grandfather, Hawk's 
Bill, Table Rock, etc., reach an altitude of 6,000 feet and 
the Black 6,711— all on the north and west ; the southern 
range is about 2,500 feet. Owing to the conformation of 
the surrounding heights, tornados are impossible and storms 
insignificant, the great blasts passing high over head. 
The general elevation of the valley is sufficient to secure 
fine breezes from the mountains and cool refreshing nights 
for s] eep in the midst of the summer heats, while the severe 
rigoi'S of winter are unknown. Laborers can work out of 
doors every day in the year, if not raining. No malaria or 
local cause of sickness. 

With a climate unsurpassed, if equaled, and a soil that 
yields generously to cultivation, it is not surprising that 
this region was early settled and that those who came re- 
mained. Added to these advantages was the picturesque 
beauty of the landscape views. Professor Mitchell , who 
was authority in such matters, as Gov. Swain was in his- 
tory, in North Carolina at least, used to say that Morgan- 
ton afforded the finest mountain scenery of any point in 
his knowledge. We read that, 

" Distance lends enchantment to the view 
And clothes the mountain in its azure hue," 

and I am disposed to accept that as a fact, for certainly I 
would rather look at the Black, 35 miles away, standing 
more than a mile above me, than attempt to realize its 
enormous proportions by " tackling" its rugged sides. The 
writer once ascended the steep slopes of Table Rock, 5, 000 
feet above tide, on a sunny day in July with a fat miss. He 



280 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 

"made it,'' miss and till, but to this day, though 40 yeai^ 
ago, he has never felt compensated for the effort. 

The early settlement of this valley was by Scotch Irish 
Presbyterians, either direct from the north of Ireland, oi 
by the way of Pennsylvania and Virginia . Of course 
there were pioneers and others who were neither Scotch - 
Irish nor Presbyterians, and some of the Scotch-Irish were 
not particularly distinguished for religious belief, but 
the leading elements were such. The first church built in 
Morganton was of brick, and for their use. That build- 
ing, remodeled, is now the place of worship for the follow- 
ers of John Knox, the same yesterday, to-day and forever. 
The Methodists are now the most numerous, the Baptists 
next, while the Episcopalians, though few in number, are, 
generally, highly intelligent and wealthy. The present 
population are the offspring of the early settlers, there not 
being a dozen foreigners in the county. The old stock 
were a sturdy people as well as intelligent, and they were 
enterprising too. The books and papers of ye olden time 
have recorded all here given to their credit. It is a singu- 
lar fact that the first cotton ever sent abroad was raised in 
Burke County. John Rutherford, Sen., who had learned 
the hatters' trade in the old country, raised the cotton as an 
experiment, picked and packed it in bags, and carried the 
crop to Charleston, S. C. , in his wagon, and sent it to En- 
gland to test its value as a fibre compared with flax, for 
making cloth ! Though far removed from the large col- 
leges the old folks appreciated the value of education, and, 
when able, sent their children off to school ; but if there 
was not means to send all, the boys must needs give way 
to the girls, who, whatever happened, must get their " fin- 
ishing touches " abroad ; and with a gallantry for which 
they have ever been distinguished, the boys never ques- 
tioned the superior claim. Hence it is, I suppose, that Gov- 
ernor Vance has said, ' ' Burke has the finest women and the 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 281 

sorriest men in the State." Tliis is rather a biting jest, but 
it is true that the women are more cultivated and ambitious 
than the men. They are remarkable for all the graces that 
make the sex lovely, and with it all have the pride of Lu- 
cifer himself. This led strangers to regard Morganton 
as the " seat and centre of civilization and refinement in 
Western North Carolina. " 

The young men are a lively, dashing set, who would prefer 
to do "head work " and let the negro do the digging — many 
would rather charge a battery than plough an acre, but as 
they mature, are singularly level-headed and conservative 
in their views. They would ride a day to oblige a stranger, 
or drop any business to discuss x)olitics. The average Burke 
voter can resist more temptation or absorb more Federal 
patronage and still vote the Democratic ticket than any 
man in America ! 

This people have an immense deal of family pride and it 
is dangerous, where each thinks his or her family a little 
better than all the rest of the world, to mention names. 
But at the risk of bullets let it be said, that since 
the day Waightstill Avery signed the Mecklenburg Decla- 
ration of Independence and Charles and Joe McDowell as 
sembled the neighbors of this valley at .their plantation, 
Quaker Meadows, forming the nucleus of the little army 
which stormed the heights of King's Mountain and made 
good that Declaration, the men of Burke have stood in the 
forefront. 

Burke is a good and pleasant county for ivhite folk to 
move to, but carpet-baggers and dead-beats "need not 
apply." 



282 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 



Cleveland County 



Borders on South Carolina, and its northern extremity is the 
top of the South Mountain Chain, in which rise, 1st. , Broad 
River, running* through the county, also Knob, Buffalo, 
Sandy Run and Brushy Creeks— all good sized streams, with 
abundant falls and fine water-power. Scarcely any county 
has more good shoals, though some have falls of greater 
power. Our lands vary. The northern half being very 
rolling (extreme northern mountains). The southern por- 
tion is somewhat rolling, but generally lies fine for farming 
for a western county. 

Timbers are abundant and very fine. The various oaks 
common to Western North Carolina, hickory and yellow 
pine are abundant, chestnut in the mountains ; also some 
wild locust and black walnut, though the latter is not 
abundant. We also have some ash, poplar, maple (white), 
dogwood, etc. As soon as virgin forests are destroyed the 
lands spontaneously produce ^^ old field pine^^ in abun- 
dance. It grows rapidly and in fifteen years makes good 
lumber and fuel. Fruit grows finely — all kinds common 
to North Carolina. 

We produce corn, cotton, oats, wheat, generally ; 
some tobacco which grows finely, but farmers prefer cot- 
ton as being as profitable, and less risk and trouble. The 
health of this county cannot he surpassed. No local cause 
for disease, right under the mountains. We have an abun- 
dance of fine, bold, cold, freestone springs, as clear and pure 
as an icicle. Our atmosphere is perfectly pure and bracing, 
and we seldom have a drought. Clouds form in the moun- 
tains north and west of us, and in a few hours we have the 
showers. We have many mineral springs, principally sul- 
phur and chalybeate. Among them the celebrated Wilson, 
or as now called, Cleveland Springs. 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 983 

Our town, Shelby, is the terminus of the Carolina Cen- 
tral Eailroad, and is one of the prettiest, healthiest and 
most thriving towns in the State. In it is located the Shelby 
Female College, recently started and prospering. We also 
have two fine floui'ishing high schools— Shelby and King's 
Mountain. Names locate them. The C. & A. Airline 
Road runs through the southern end of the county, and 
King's Mountain (called from its proximity to the battle- 
ground) and Whitaker give a fine market to the southern, 
while Shelby gives an elegant market to all other points of 
the county. We have two small cotton mills, two foun- 
dries, three tobacco factories recently started, and a ware- 
house soon to be erected, 

Our farmers are of the most progressive kind and are 
making money, and have in ten years improved more rap- 
idly in farming than we did in 50 years prior to 1860. We 
will soon raise enough grain to supply us, and from 8,000 
to 10,000 bags of cotton. Large quantities of improved 
farm implements are bought every year. All mountain 
vegetables flourish here, and the world can't beat Cleveland 
County for good living. A man is as rich here on $5,000 
as in many places on ten times that amount, and can have 
more of the real luxuries of life. 

Fine stock is being imported and every year our progress 
can plainly be noticed. We owe a remnant of debt made 
by taking $50,000 worth of railroad stock, which will be 
paid out entirely next year, if not this. Lands are rapidly 
advancing in price. Scarcely any lands, outside of moun- 
tain lands, can be bought for less than $6 per acre, and in 
choice locations improved farms of upland bring $10 to $12, 
and where the lands are of good quality, $15 per acre. We 
welcome emigrants, need them and want them. Here 
where they have access to tivo great railroads is the back- 
woods of North Carolina so accessible, healthy, aud afford- 
ing such a fine field for investment. Our timbers in 



284 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 

upper Cleveland are a mine in themselves. Large 
tracts near the mountains can be bought at $3 to $4 per 
acre, heavily timbered with yellow pine which, if put into 
lumber or shingles, would make fortunes to the purchaser. 
The factories buy their cotton at their doors. Good churches 
are abundant all over the county, Baptist, Methodist, Pres- 
byterian, Lutheran, Episcopal, etc., the two former pre- 
dominating. H. F . S. 



Lincoln County. 



This county is traversed by Carolina Central and Chester 
and Lenoir Narrow Gauge Railroads. 

Minerals. — Iron. — A vein of magnetite runs through a 
portion of Ironton township. It is the same vein that is 
upon the High Shoal property, in Gaston County, and dis- 
appears at the South Fork River, and coming out at Big 
Ore Bank in Lincoln County, runs thence into Catawba, 
disappearing near Sherrill's Ford on Catawba River. 

The Big Ore Bank has been worked since 1792, and the 
quantity of ore seems inexhaustible. One shaft is down 
125 feet and several 50 to 75. The Brevard Bank adjoins 
this, and has been worked since 1800. The vein appears 
continuously in Lincoln and Catawba Counties for ten 
miles or more. This iron has no superior for strength, and 
is well suited for the manufacture of ordnance, and cables, 
wires, etc. This ore smelts ivithout aid of lime or any 
other flux — fluxes itself. Vesuvius, Rehoboth, Madison and 
Stonewall Furnaces and several forges are on this belt. 
There are several beds of brown hematite near Lincolnton 
and in North Brooks Township. 

Limestone and Marble. — There are two quarries in Iron 
township — Keener and Finger. 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 286 

Manganese. — There is a bed of oxide on lands of V. A. 
McBee, in Lincolnton township, and a vein of silicate 
crosses Catawba Springs and Ironton. 

Gold. — There are several mines. Burton, Morrison, 
Barneth, Lowe, Hoke, Sharpe and Dalton. Some of these 
have been remuneratively worked. 

Copper. — The Graham mine shows gold at the rate of $60 
per ton in first five feet, but at twelve feet, changes to 

Copper - - $60.00 

Gold 30.00 

$90.00 
with mdications of becoming a copper mine of remarkable 
richness. 

Sulphur-Darby Mine. Amethysts at Eendleman's. Beryl 
at A. E. Horney's. Lazulite at D. F. Abernethy's on 
Chubb's Mountain. 

Timbers and Woods. — Oaks, white, post, red, black 
and Spanish are all over the county, with willow oak 
in occasional places. Hickory, dogwood and maple in 
great abundance ; ash, beech, birch, poplar (both yellow 
and white), cherry, pei'simmon, gum, (both black and 
sweet,) linden, sassafras, elms, (three varieties,) pine, 
(yellow), honey locust, chestnut, (but are dying out,) 
Avillow and sycamore. 

Manufactures. — There are several shoals on Catawba 
and South Fork Rivers, some of which have been utilized. 
The creeks in the county afford a great many shoals, many 
of which have been utilized for furnaces, forges, flouring, 
grist and saw mills and carding machines. 

Phif er and Allison have a cotton mill at Lincolnton, on 
Clarke's Creek, with 2,016 spindles and 75 looms, which 
pays well. 

Phifer and Sumner have a wool carding machine at 
Lincolnton. J. H. Marsh has a chair and furniture factory. 



286 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 

As good flour is made by a number of mills in this county 
as can be found anywhere. 

Agricultural Products. — Wheat, oats, corn and cotton 
are the principal market crops. Some tobacco and grass 
are also raised. A large portion of the county is admirably 
suited to the growth of fine yellow tobacco, and it will 
become one of the chief industries. Fruit of all kinds 
flourishes— though sometimes destroyed by late frosts. 
Clover, orchard and blue grass flourish. W. A. G. 



Gaston County. 



Minerals. — Iron. — Magnetite, on High Shoal lands, in 
large quantities, suitable for making Bessemer Steel, also 
car wheels, etc., has been worked for sixty years. Brown 
hematite — several beds in Cherryville township. 

Gold. — There are several mines in the belt of Huronian 
slate, vf hich crosses this county. Some of which have been 
extensively worked. 

Building Stone. — Several quarries of excellent granite, 
also soapstone and gneiss. 

Timber. — Same as Lincoln County. 

Manufactures. — This bids fair to surpass all other 
counties in number and power of its factories. The 
Catawba River and South Fork furnish many excellent 
shoals— the Mt. Island on Catawba and High and Spring 
Shoals on the South Fork being the finest in the State. The 
' ' Bend " in the Catawba River occurs in this county near 
Rozzell's, where by a canal of two miles in length, a 
fall of sixty feet in the Catawba River can be obtained, 
which would afford an immense amount of power. There 
are now in operation the following cotton mills : Mt. 
Island on Catawba River ; Woodla wn, Linebarger, Wilson 



OF NOETH CAROLINA. 287 

and McAden (at Spring Shoal) on South Fork, and Mt. 
Holly, on Dutchman Creek. There are a large number of 
flour, grist and saw mills on the rivers and creeks of the 
county, and several run by steam. 

Agricultural Products. — Same as Lincoln. 

The Charlotte and Atlanta, and Carolina Central Rail- 
road, and Chester and Lenoir Narrow Gauge, traverse the 
county. W. A. G. 



Catawba County. 

Is located in the Piedmont section of Western North 
Carolina, nearly midway between Virginia and South 
Carolina. The general altitude of the county is from ten to 
twelve hundred feet above sea level. It has been settled 
more than a century, but about two-thirds of it remains in 
original forest. The Western North Carolina Railroad 
runs through the northern part of this county. On this 
road are located Newton, the county seat, a town of six 
hundred inhabitants. Hickory, with a population of fifteen 
hundred, and Conover, with one hundred and fifty inhabi- 
tants. The northern portion of the county abounds in 
yellow pine timber, which makes good lumber and shingles 
for building purposes. Saw and shingle mills are numer- 
ous along the line of the Western North Carolina Rail- 
road. 

The county was colonized by immigrants from the 
German Settlements of Pennsylvania, and the frequent 
recurrence of German names indicates a large infusion of 
that people. 

The Lutheran, Reformed, Methodist, Baptist, Presbyter- 
ian, Episcopal and Catholic Churches are all represented, 
but the four first mentioned are the most numerous of these 
denominations. 



288 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 

Schools.— AX Newton there is a male and female school 
of high grade, under the charge of Revs. G. C. Clapp and 
I. A. Foil, assisted by other competent instructors. At 
Hickory there are three schools of high grade, twD for 
females and one for males. Claremont College (female) is 
under the charge of Rev. A. S. Vaughn, who employs five 
assistant lady teachers. The Sisters of Mercy have 
charge of a Catholic female school located there, and 
Professor H. C. Dixon conducts a good elementary and 
classical school for boys. 

Hickory is a new place which has grown up within the 
last ten years, and is already an important trading point. 
It has seven churches, two tobacco warehouses, five tobacco 
factories, two hotels, three tanneries, three livery stables, 
twenty stores, a large wagon manufactory, two weekly 
newspapers, and a number of other industrial establish- 
ments. 

The Crops best suited to this section are wheat, of 
which Catawba County exports a large surplus, Indian 
corn, oats, tobacco, cotton, apples, peaches, cherries, pears, 
small fruits, clover and the grasses. The soils vary from 
the thin gravelly uplands, well adapted to the production 
of fine tobacco, to the dark soils, better adapted to grain 
crops. The ridges possess a fine porous red clay subsoil, 
which enables them to resist drought, when deeply 
ploughed. They are susceptible of the highest cultivation. 

By the Census of 1880 the total population of Catawba 
County was 14,946, of which 12,469 were whites and 2,477 
were colored. In 1870 the population of the county was 
10,984, showing an increase of nearly four thousand, or 
about 36 per cent, in ten years. 

The county is entirely out of debt, and taxes as low 
perhaps as in any county of the State. Newton the 
county seat is 183 miles west of Raleigh. Hickory is ten 
miles west of Newton. 



OP NORTH CAROLIITA. 289 

The Piedmont country of North Carolina possesses an 
admirable climate, being mild in winter and temperate in 
summer. The air is free from malaria, the drinking waters 
pure and cold. The soils are good and adapted to a wide 
range of productions. Building material consisting of 
timber of excellent quality, clay suitable for brick, and 
rock is abundant and cheap. Society is orderly, railroad 
facilities good in the central part, and improving in other 
parts. I regard it as the most promising part of the 
State. R. K. B. 



Iredell County. 



This county was formerly a part of Rowan. It was dur- 
ing the revolutionary period the scene of many stirring 
events and is rich in historical interest. It was settled 
principally by the Scotch-Irish, and in its population this 
sturdy race yet predominates. It is singular in the uni- 
formity of the distribution of property among its people. 
There are no extremes of poverty and riches. The people 
are thoroughly well ofiP, and to their material prosperity 
add a large general intelligence. Extending about forty- 
five miles north and south, and about twenty-five east and 
west, it embraces in its territory a great variety of geo- 
graphical formation and an equal variety of soil. The 
southern part of the county, for example, is strikingly 
level, running to rolling lands in the central section and 
reaching to the mountains in the north where it joins to 
Wilkes and Yadkin. Red clay lands predominate, but they 
are well interspersed with gray gravel and loamy soil. It 
is therefore a boast of the people that anything that can be 
grown anywhere can be grown in Iredell. 

Up to twenty-five years ago the agricultural population 



290 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 

was almost wholly given over to the growing of corn, 
wheat and oats, in the production of which these lands 
excel. Later, however, with the more general introduction 
of commercial manures, the growing of cotton and tobacco 
has been largely gone into. The success that has been 
realized with these crops has been very great. This is par- 
ticularly true with regard to cotton in the southern portion 
of the county where it is grown to perfection, but not only 
there — its culture has been pushed to the very foot of the 
mountains, where a quarter of a century ago it was not 
supposed it would grow at all. The adaptabilitj^ of the 
gravelly lands to the growth of tobacco is a recent dis- 
covery. Now the county is known as the centre of the 
bright tobacco district. This product is grown with great 
success and at fine profit, the quality of the Iredell leaf 
being such as to cause it to be eagerly sought after in distant 
markets. These advances of the past few years have re- 
sulted in the establishment of considerable cotton markets 
at Statesville, Mooresville, Troutmans, Elmwood, and 
Mt. Mourne, and a very prosperous tobacco market at 
Statesville, the county seat, where there are now two large 
tobacco warehouses and four factories. 

Fruit of every variety grows luxuriantly, while the 
mountain counties scarcely surpass these lands in the pro- 
duction of the different grasses. 

The Western North Carolina Railroad crosses the county 
from east to west, while the Atlantic, Tennessee and Ohio 
Railroad from Charlotte, pierces it from the south to States- 
ville, the centre. Thus the capital has railroads running in 
three different directions, while an extension of the Atlan- 
tic, Tennessee and Ohio Railroad from Statesville to Tay- 
lorsville, Alexander County, is projected, as also an ex- 
tension of the Virginia Midland Railroad from Danville, 
Va., to Mooresville. 

Iredell is a well- watered county. The Catawba river is 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 291 

its southern boundary ; the South Fork of the Yadkin 
River crosses it from northwest to southeast, and it has 
numerous large creeks, which turn quantities of machinery 
and furnish the county a full area of bottom lands. There 
are three cotton factories on these creeks, and about fifteen 
tobacco factories in the county. 

Rutile and corundum are found in this county in consid- 
erable abundance and of excellent quality. 

The forests of the county present a great variety of tim- 
ber, and so abundant and of such excellence is it as to have 
attracted here, within the past eighteen months, two facto- 
ries for the working of it. 

Different religious denominations are represented by 
Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, and Episcopal 
churches. 

The finances of the county are in excellent condition. 
It owes no floating debt. Its bonds outstanding and not 
yet due cannot be bought at par, 

ALEXANDER COUNTY. 

Is a daughter of Iredell, and lies just to her west. Never 
having had any railroad facilities, her advancement has 
not been as rapid as it would otherwise have been. A sub 
scription of $22,000 has, however, recently been voted to a 
proposed railroad to Taylorsville, the county seat. The 
lands are largely ridge, and the chief products are wheat, 
oats and corn. Fruits and all other necessary farm prod- 
ucts are raised and the people live largely within them- 
selves. They are intelligent and as progressive as their 
pent-up condition will admit of. They produce considera- 
ble cotton, though under the shadow of the mountains, and 
as much of this as is not marketed at Statesville is con- 
sumed by the two mills within the county. The water 
power is abundant and turns a number of grist and flouring 
mills, saw mills, etc. 



292 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 

Alexander County is chiefly distinguished for her min- 
eral wealth. Within her borders are found rutile, co- 
rundum, garnets, emeralds, and, within the past few years 
a new and beautiful gem, to which the name Hiddenite has 
been given. This is the only locality in the United States 
where this gem has been found. It is one of rare beauty 
and great value, and is being very diligently worked by 
Prof. W. E. Hidden, of Newark, N. J., the representative 
at the mines of the Emerald and Hiddenite Mimng Com- 
pany, which was organized last year in New York for the 
purpose of developing this property. 

The general surface of this county is elevated and roll- 
ing. It has a fine forest growth of timber of many differ- 
ent kinds. 

Baptist, Methodist and Presbyterian churches are found 
in different portions of the county. 

YADKIN COUNTY. 

Like Alexander, Yadkin is without railroads and without 
the hope of any except such as is held out by the Cape Fear 
and Yadkin Valley road. It has been noted for years for 
the excellence of its vineyards and the superior quality of 
its whisky. In these it is unrivaled in the State. It 
abounds in water courses, and the bottoms adjacent to these 
are highly productive, particularly of corn, which is the 
county's great staple. The lands are generally rolling, to 
the north mountainous. Tobacco is cultivated to a con- 
siderable extent in the southern and western sections, but 
cotton can scarcely be said to have gotten a foothold. The 
county has a number of tobacco factories, but cotton or 
other forms of manufacturing have not been much estab- 
lished. 

There is a strata of iron ore running across the county, 
but it has never been developed. Many years ago iron was 
mined and worked on a small scale in Yadkin with some 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 293 

success, but owing, probably, to lack of capital and of 
facilities for doing such a business in so remote a region, it 
was abandoned. There are also believed to be deposits of 
coal in the county. 

SURRY COUNTY. 

Formerly Surry and Yadkin were one, with Rockf ord as 
the county seat. They are divided now by the Yadkin 
River, which waters both. The topographical features of the 
two counties are not essentially different. Surry is more 
mountainous. Their products are likewise much the same, 
and any sketch of one would very nearly cover the other. 
Surry is necessarily behind some of her sister counties by 
reason of the fact that she has never been developed by 
railroad, but she is fortunate in that a good deal of manu- 
facturing enterprise has been exhibited by her citizens. For 
a number of years cotton manufacturing has been con- 
ducted on a large scale and with profit at Mt. Airy, which 
is the site also of tobacco warehouses and factories, which 
make it a point of more consequence than Dobson, the 
county seat. At Elkin, on tlie Yadkin, large manufac- 
turing interests are carried on. The Elkin Manufacturing 
Company work up a considerable amount of cotton, while 
the Elkin Valley Woollen Mills do a large and increasing 
business. Its indirect benefits are neither few nor small, 
for it is stimulating sheep husbandry not only in Surry but 
in adjacent counties. 

Surry is more prominent on account of her manufac- 
turing interests than aught else, though her agriculture 
does not languish. In point of mineral wealth she has not 
developed much, though there are deposits of both iron and 
coal in her borders. Doubtless with the building of a rail- 
road this hidden wealth would be unearthed and there are 
reasons to hope that this aid to development mil not be 
much longer lacking. J. P. C. 



204 COAL AND lEON COUNTIES 



Stokes Oounty 

Is situated in the north-western portion of the State, 
bounded on the east by Rockingham, on the south by For- 
syth, on the west by Surry, and on the north by the Vir- 
ginia State Line. Danbury, a picturesque httle village 
situated on a spur of the Saura Mountains, near the head 
waters of the river Dan, is the county-seat. Its area is 500 
square miles. Of this, 57,393 acres of land are improved, 
and 168,780 unimproved. 

The north-western portion of the county is in some 
places very rough, although nearly all of it, except the 
mountains, can easily be cultivated. Upon the uplands 
tlie soil is generally of a light gray color, in every way 
adapted to the cultivation of very fine tobacco, and it is no 
uncommon occurrence for farmers to obtain forty and forty- 
five cents a pound for their tobacco. Here we also find 
every variety of garden vegetables raised, and were trans- 
portation better, this would be of incalculable benefit to the 
farmers and people generally. 

The soil upon the lowlands is a rich sandy loam, where 
very good corn, wheat and other grain crops arc produced. 
The following are the principal productions in 1882 : — Com, 
338,781 bushels ; Rye, 5,023 bushels ; Oats, 72,391 bushels ; 
Wheat, 55,284 bushels ; Tobacco, 2,131,161 lbs. 

The timber is superb, mile after mile of forest, consisting 
of such wood as walnut, oak, maple, hickory, poplar, gum, 
ash and many other varieties, that have never known an 
axe. The timber is so easy of access that many large saw- 
mills are springing up over the county. The land is well 
watered by the Dan River, and such large creeks as Town 
Fork and Belew Creek. A few miles above Hairston's 
Ford on Dan River is one of the finest of water-powers. 
Cattle and sheep raising is quite extensively carried on in 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 295 

portions of the county. The mountainous district seems 
peculiarly adapted to the raising of sheep. 

Along the base of the Saura Mountains large quantities 
of iron are found. The vein at Danbury is eight feet thick 
and was successfully worked by the Confederate Govern- 
ment during the war. Lime and coal have also been dis- 
covered in large quantities, although no decided efforts 
have as yet been made to develop these important minerals. 

At present there is no railroad completed into Stokes, al- 
though the Cape Fear & Yadkin Valley R. R. has been 
graded to Walnut Cove, eight miles from Danbury, and 
will be in running operation within a year. The Virginia 
Midland R. R. Co. has also located its North Carolina ex- 
tension through this county, and as there is no other way 
for them to go, even if they wished, there is every reason 
to believe it will soon be built. 

Near Danbury are the Piedmont Springs, noted for their 
mineral qualities, and much frequented by parties in pur- 
suit of health and pleasure. They are situated within the 
heart of the Saura Mountains, where one may inhale the 
purest of mountain au' and almost bow in adoration to the 
magnificent scenery on all sides. 

The population of Stokes County in 1880 was 15, 353. The 
character of the people is all any one could desire — kind 
towards strangers, generous to a fault and free from all 
political and religious contention. The majority are poor, 
although many hospitable mansions belonging to the rich 
are scattered over the county. E. T. B. Gr- 



296 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 



Forsyth Connty. 

This county is located in the north-western portion of the 
State, about 100 miles north-west of Raleigh, and 25 miles 
west of Greensboro, on the line of the N. C. R. R. It was 
formed from Stokes County in the year 1849. 

Its population is about 20,000— five-sixths white. 

The assessed value of property is about $4,000,000. 

The general surface is comparatively level, only suffici- 
ently broken to afford good drainage ; none too broken to 
cultivate. 

The County is bounded on the west by the Yadkin River, 
and is watered in all portions by Muddy, Belew's, 
Abbott's, Old Field, South Fork, and many smaller creeks, 
which afford an abundant supply of good fresh water for 
stock, besides power for mill purposes in all seasons. Drink- 
ing water is easily obtained from numerous springs and 
wells, from 25 to 60 feet deep, all of pure cold free-stone 
water. 

The principal crops are corn, wheat, rye, oats, hay, pota- 
toes, and tobacco ; some cotton. 

About one-half of the County is gray soil well adapted to 
the growth of fine yellow tobacco, frequently producing 
from one to two hundred dollars per acre a single crop. 
The red lands of the County, comprising the other half 
perhaps, are admirably adapted to the growth of wheat and 
the grasses ; averaging in some instances the present sea- 
son thirty bushels of wheat to one sown on an entire farm. 
These lands when well prepared will produce five tons of 
hay per acre an ordinary season. 

Apples, peaches, pears, plums, apricots, cherries, straw- 
berries and grapes, of many varieties are grown in large 
quantities. More dried fruit is annually shipped from the 
depot at Winston than from any other point in the State. 



OF NOETH CAROLINA. 297 

A.bout one-half of the County is covered by original for- 
ests of white oak and other species of oak, poplar, hickory, 
persimmon, dogwood, with some cedar, locust, walnut, 
elm, and birch. 

There are extensive granite and lime quarries in this 
County. 

Winston, the county town, has grown from a small vil- 
lage of three or four hundred inhabitants in 1873 when the 
railroad was completed to tliis place, with one or two stores, 
to a small city of 6000, two national banks, with 48 stores, 
24 tobacco factories manufacturing several million pounds 
of leaf per annum, 4 large warehouses for the sale of leaf 
tobacco, 2 sash and blind factories, with saw and planing 
mills and steam grist mill ; all giving employment to at 
least three thousand laborers. 

Salem, separated from Winston by a street (the two 
forming in fact but one town), is an old Moravian town 
settled originally by Germans. Its present population is 
principally of German descent, numbering about two thou- 
sand ; a thrifty, industrious, :^o-ahead people. The Salem 
Female Academy, noted throughout many of the Southern 
States, is located here ; is r.ndor mo.vt excellent management 
and in a most flourishing condition. Salem does a good mer- 
cantile business, has extensive cotton and woollen mills, 
planing and sash and bhnd factories, one large and exten- 
sive manufactory of agricultural implements, and saw 
mills and other manufacturing establishments. While an 
old town it has on new clothes anci is keeping pace with its 
twin-sister in her march of progress. 

Kernersville, Bethania, and Waughtown are all thriving 
towns in the County. The two first named are engaged m 
tobacco manufacturing extensively, and the last named is 
noted for its wagon factories, which sell their work as far 
south as Florida. The first and last named have doubled 
their population within five years. 



"298 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 

The climate of the County is healthful, the air dry and 
salubrious, the people long-lived. The County is thickly 
dotted with churches. The principal denominations are 
Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Episcopal, Christian, 
Moravian and Dunker. Free public schools are taught in 
each school district (white and colored separate but equally 
provided for), for a term of from four to six months in the 
year. Winston has established a graded school, and is now 
erecting a free school building for the purpose at a cost of 
$10,000. 

The rate of taxation is about 68 cents on the one hundred 
dollar valuation of property. 

The County is on the high road of prosperity, has fully 
recovered from the results of the war, and is to-day far 
beyond the point she occupied in 1861, and stands holding 
out her hands inviting labor, capital and brains to come 
among her people, guaranteeing welcome and protection 
to all who come to share in her prosperity. C. B. W. 



Davidson County 

Is one of the largest and finest counties in the State. It 
was established in 1822, from Rowan, and was ' ' named in 
compliment of Gen. William Davidson, who fell at the 
passage of the Catawba River at Cowan's Ford during the 
Revolutionary War, 1st of February, 1781." 

It is situated in the central portion of the State, in the 
Piedmont section. Whether viewed from its eastern and 
western or from its southern and northern boundaries, it is 
nearly in the centre of the State, although Lexington, its 
county site, is one hundred and seventeen miles west of 
Raleigh. It is bounded on the north by Forsyth, east by 
Guilford and Randolph, south by the Yadkin River, which 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 299 

separates it from Stanly and Rowan, and on the west by 
the same river, separates it from Rowan and Davie. 

Lexing-ton is its capital, a most flourishing and beautiful 
village. 

The population of the county, by the census of 1880, is 
20,333 — an increase of about 3,000 during the last decade. 
Of this 16,341 are white and 3,992 colored. The county is 
out of debt, with a small surplus in the treasury. In 1879 
it produced 549,906 bushels of Indian corn, which quantity 
was exceeded by only four other counties ; oats, 122,063 
bushels, being exceeded only by five counties ; wheat, 174,- 
671 bushels, which is 36,393 bushels more than was pro- 
duced by any other county. It is the eighth county in the 
production of tobacco, and the second in the value of 
orchard products ; first in the production of hay — 8,667 
tons ; first in Irish potatoes — 26,108 bushels. 

It has numerous mines of gold, silver, copper and lead. 
A large number are now being worked with handsome 
profit. The most noted are the Silver Hill, Silver Valley, 
Conrad Hill, the Lalor, the Ward, the Welborn, the Hoo- 
ver and the Emmons. 

The North Carolina Railroad runs through the centre of 
the county, entermg on the east at the Guilford line and 
running to Thomasville, Lexnigton, Linwood and to the 
Yadkin River, where it enters Rowan. 

It has six villages besides Lexington, to wit : Linwood, 
Jackson Hill. Teaguetown. Clemmonsville, Yadkin College 
and Thomasville. The first three are small, with but few 
inhabitants ; the fourth and fifth are somewhat larger, but 
the sixth — Thomasville — has some five or six hundred in- 
habitants, with several stores, a large number of shoe sliops, 
and is one of the prettiest villages in the State. Lexington 
and its suburbs have about 1,200 inhabitants, twenty/ 
stores of various kinds, among them a drug store and hard- 
ware store, a steam grist and flour mill, cotton press, two 



300 COAL AND lEON COUNTIES 

foundries, two steam saw mills, and agricultural imple- 
ment shops, three tobacco factories, two warehouses, six 
churches, two beautiful blocks of stores and quite a large 
number of dwellings and business houses are now being 
built and repaired ; a fine male school and several private 
female schools. 

Davidson has two fine colleges, one male and the other 
female. Yadkin College is ten miles west of Lexington, 
at Yadkin College village, and the Thomas ville Female 
College is at Thomas ville, ten miles east of Lexington, on 
the N. C. R. R. 

There are other colleges close by, though not in David- 
son County, viz. : Trinity College, seventeen miles distant, 
Salem Female College, the old and celebrated German 
school, twenty-one miles ; Greensboro Female College, 
thirty-five miles — all within a day's ride. 

The Yadkin River and other streams that traverse the 
county afford some of the finest and most productive low- 
lands or bottoms to be found any where. About two-thirds 
of the county, embracing the western, northern and a part 
of the eastern portion, is of the very finest kind of tobacco 
land, and when well cultivated and the tobacco well cured 
large prices are obtained by the farmers and heavy profits 
realized. Some farmers are known to have made $900, 
$1,000 and $1,100 on one acre of land by raising fine to- 
bacco. 

About one-fifth of the county, known as the Jersey Set- 
tlement, in the southern part of the county, is the cotton 
producing section, where nearly 1, 600 bales were raised in 
1879. These lands are rich and fertile. And while cotton 
and tobacco are raised to perfection in the sections named, 
the whole county is emphatically a great grain producing 
section of the country, as is shown by the figures above 
given. 

The climate is pleasant and salubrious, not being subject 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 301 

to the extremes of heat and cold. The numerous springs . 
and wells afford the purest, clearest and coldest drinking 
water to be found in any State. The celebrated Healmg 
Spring, a pleasant summer resort, is fifteen miles south-east 
of Lexington. 

Taken all together — the water, climate, soil, educational 
advantages and accessibility to market, Davidson County 
is a most pleasant and desirable place to live in. 

M. H. P. 



Davie County, 

Bounded on the East by the Yadkin and on the South by the 
South Yadkin River, is a very fertile and prosperous county 
belonging to the middle section. It is principally a grain 
growing and tobacco county and is especially noted for its 
fine tobacco. The stock law prevails in the entire county. 
Its surface is hilly and undulating ; its soil rich and loamy. 
The minerals are iron and copper. The principal products, 
wheat, corn, oats, rye, tobacco and cotton. Fruits : grapes, 
apples and peaches. It has an area of 240 square miles 
(153,506 acres) and its population is 11,096; white, 7,770; 
colored 3,326. A^alue of real estate $1,000,000, and of per- 
sonal property, $500,000. 

Schools are kept up from three to four months in each 
school district. 

Mocksville is the county seat with a population of 600. 

It is a finely timbered county, the principal timbers being 
hickory, oak, ash, gum, pine and poplar. A very fine 
quality of wine is made in this county. The principal 
manufactures are tobacco and whisky. This is one of the 
few counties that makes its own bacon. The people are so- 
ber, industrious and hospitable. Flourishing schools are in 



302 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 

operation at Farmington, Fulton, Smith Grove and Mocks- 
ville. L. S. O. 



Rowan Oonnty. 



This County, situated near the centre of what is known 
as the Middle Section of the State, bounded on the East by 
the Yadkin and on the North by the South Yadkin river, 
is one of the most fertile and prosperous counties in the 
State. Eight large creeks, from five to eight miles apart, in- 
tersect the County, making it rich in bottom and meadow 
lands. Surface hilly and undulating. Soil rich and loamy. 
Principal products : oats, wheat, corn, rye, cotton, tobacco, 
sugar cane, hay, peas and potatoes. 

Fruits : Apples, peaches, pears and grapes. 

Timbers : Hickory, oak, ash, maple, dogwood, poplar and 
pine. 

Minerals : Gold, copper, silver and iron. 

This is perhaps the finest grain-growing County in the 
State ; more oats in 1880 and, with one exception, more 
corn and wheat having been raised here than in any other 
County. More hay beyond any comparison is shipped annu- 
ally from this point; 1,400,000 lbs. having been shipped in 
1881. From eight to ten thousand bales of cotton are pro- 
duced annually; and tobacco in certain portions of the 
County is raised with great profit and in abundance. There 
are twenty-five flouring mills in the County, all run by 
water. 

For the present year two dollars per capita for each child 
over six years of age has been appropriated for school pur- 
poses, which will give a four months' school in each district. 

The stock law prevails in the entire county with excep- 
tion of one township. 

Salisbury, the county seat, an enterprising town of 3,000 



OF NOETH CAKOLINA. 303 

inhabitants, is the eastern terminus of the Western North 
Carolina Railroad, and is on the direct line of the Rich- 
mond & Danville or Piedmont &; Au' Line Railroad which 
runs through the County dividing it in twain. It possesses 
the most ample railroad facilities, being in direct connection 
with the great cities of the North and South ; and lately 
through connection has been given over the Western North 
Carolina Railroad with Louisville, Cincinnati and the 
great West. Within the last year a fine tobacco market 
has sprung up here and already two large tobacco w^are- 
houses and three factories are in active operation. 

It contains a magnificent public school building hand- 
somely equipped and a flourishing graded school is con- 
ducted. 

It has six handsome churches for the whites and four for 
the colored representing the Methodist, Baptist, Lutheran, 
Presbyterian, Episcopal and Roman Catholic denomina- 
tions. 

That portion of the County lying East of the R. & D. 
Railroad, is in the great mineral belt of the State. And 
over fifty gold and copper mines have been opened, some 
fifteen of which have been equipped and are at work or are 
ready to be operated. In this County are situated the cele- 
brated Gold Hill mines out of which over $2,000,000 in gold 
has been taken. They are now extensively worked by 
English capitalists. 

Population of the County, 19,965; whites, 13,621; colored, 
6,344; area, 485 square miles (310,453 acres); value of real 
estate, $3,000,000, and value of personal propertv, $1,- 
200,000. 

The County is out of debt and has several thousand dol- 
lars surplus money in the Treasury. 

The people are sober, industrious, moral and hospitable. 

L. S. O. 



304 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 



Cabarrus County 

Is located, 750 feet above sea level, in the south-western 
part of the State, midway between the Yadkin and Catawba 
Kivers. The tier of counties between these two rivers is un- 
surpassed in their excellent characteristics of climate, soil 
and general aspects of nature. 

County >Sea#.— Concord, the county seat, is 40 miles 
north of the South Carolina line and 20 miles north-east of 
Charlotte, North Carolina. It is a town of 1,500 inhabitants, 
upon the North Carolina Eailroad, very near the exact geo- 
praphical centre of the County, and is the main shipping 
and freight receiving depot of the County. 

From this depot are shipped annually 12 to 15,000 bales 
of cotton, raised in Cabarrus and adjoining counties. The 
mercantile trade of the town, in all lines, aggregates much 
more than half a million of dollars annually and is increas- 
ing yearly. 

Railroad.— ThQ North Carolina Eailroad runs entirely 
through the County from north to south-west and is a part 
of the Main Line of the Richmond and Danville Railroad 
system, which carries the through mails from Boston and 
New York to New Orleans. 

Area and Population. — The area of the County is 350 
square miles. 

Population in 1870 11, 954 

" 1880 14,964 

White Population in 1880 9,849 

Colored " " " 5,115 

Foreign-born Population in 1880 37 

Debt, Values, Taxes, etc. — There is no County debt 
whatever. 

Assessed value of Real Estate 1883, $1, 600, 000 

Assessed " " Personal Property 1883, 800,000 



OF NOETH CAEOLINA. 



305 



Average yearly State and County tax on $100 worth of 
property, in cents, 66f. This, — 66f cents — is the Consti- 
tutional limit for State and County taxes in North Caro- 
lina. 

Valuation of farms, including lands, fences and build- 
ings, according to census of 1880, $2,205,643 
Valuation farmmg implements and maohinery — census 



1880, 


$90,364 


Value live stock 1880, 


296,697 


Value of all farm products 1879, 


764,084 


Number of farms 1880, 


1,729 


Improved lands 1880, (in acres), 


90,514 


Number of horses 1880, 


2,167 


Mules and asses " 


1,583 


Working oxen " 


37 


Milch cows " 


2,547 


Other cattle 


3,575 


Sheep 


3,551 


Swine " 


12,284 


Pounds of wool " 


7,663 


Pounds of butter " 


127,927 


Pounds of cheese " 


325 


Farm ProcZwc^s.— Bushels Indian corn 1880 


381,321 


Bushels oats 1880 


54,514 


wheat 


84,656 


- rye 


355 


" Irish potatoes " 


7,062 


" Sweet " " 


11,241 


Bales of cotton " 


7,467 


Tons of hay " 


3,496 


Pounds of tobacco " 


3,239 



Soil. — The soil of Cabarrus is noted for its great fertility, 
easy cultivation and general adaptability to the production 
of cotton, corn, wheat, rye, oats, clover, grasses, peas, pota- 
toes and tobacco, the latter not yet much cultivated. The 



306 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 

general character of the soil is that of a sandy loam and a 
clay loam, both underlaid with a red clay sub-soil, and is 
possessed of great vitality and energy unexhausted by cul- 
tivation for a century in some instances. 

In the eastern half of the county the land is undulating, 
somewhat "broken" by hills — the western half is rather 
level and plateau-like. 

Water. — Natural springs are in great abundance in all 
parts of the county, and good well-water is easily obtained 
at depths ranging from 20 to 40 feet. The lands of the 
county are well watered by Eocky River and several creeks 
and small streams, all perennial, with an average annual 
rain-fall of 48.2 inches. 

Trees and Timber. — Fruit trees, of almost every variety, 
flourish and grow in abundance on nearly every farm, and 
the county is well timbered with virgin oak, pine and hick- 
ory, and later growth of the same. Black walnut is also 
found in considerable quantity. Much experience has 
proven that many varieties of grape can be successfully 
grown in this county. 

Climate. — The climate is that of a luarm Temperate Zone, 
and is admirably attempered to human comfort, physical 
health, and exercise. The hottest month in the year is 
July, of which the mean temperature is 79*^; the coldest 
month is January, with a mean temperature of 38°. 

The People of Cabarrus are exceptionally intelligent, 
law-abiding, moral and thrifty. The eastern portion of the 
county is inhabited, in the main, by people of German de- 
scent, and the western part by those of Scotch-Irish ex- 
traction. 

Fences. — Farm fences do not exist in Cabarrus. Under 
a State law, which had its origin in this county, and now 
applies to several counties in North Carolina, every owner 
of live stock and cattle of every des(3ription is required to 
fence up such stock and cattle upon his own premises : and 



OF NOETH CAEOLINA. 307 

thus the great expense of farm-fencing, and the consequent 
immense destruction of timber for that x^urpose is avoided. 
The law works admirably and gives entire satisfaction to 
all classes wherever it has been tested, and is known, after 
much experience, to be of incalculable benefit to the county 
generally, and especially to the farming interest. 

Churches for the White Population. — There are in the 
county the following churches: — Five Presbyterian, with 
an aggregate membership of 1,000. Two of these churches, 
— Rocky River and Poplar Tent, — are historic, antedating 
in their organization the American Revolution: that at 
Rocky River being established in 1754. The churches at 
Concord, Rocky River and Poplar Tent are handsome brick 
edifices, the two latter having each an Academy connected 
with them, thus keeping religion and education hand in 
hand. These three churches have each a neat and comfort- 
able parsonage for their pastors. This denomination occu- 
pies a very prominent position in the county. 

Fifteen Methodist, with a membership of 1,500. The 
Methodist have good buildings for all their congregations 
— that at Concord they are now making very handsome — 
and are in a flourishing condition, commanding by 
the number and character of theu' membership great 
respect. 

Fourteen Lutheran, with a membership of 1,500. The 
Lutheran Church was established in the eastern part of the 
county several years prior to 1776. The German Reform 
and Lutherans before 1771 worshipped in the same building, 
known as the Dutch Buff aloe Church. In 1771 the Luther- 
ans, at the suggestion of Capt. John Paul Barringer, and 
chiefly with the means furnished by him, built their own 
church, now known as St. John's. The new Lutheran 
Church at Concord is the largest, most beautiful and at- 
tractive church building in Cabarrus. This denomination 
has a College, non-sectarian in its instruction, with large 



308 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 

and handsome buildings, at Mt. Pleasant, and wields a 
great and good influence in the county. 

Two German Reform, with a good membership in num- 
ber and quality, and one handsome brick church at Mt. 
Gilead; and one Episcopal, at Concord, of recent establish- 
ment, with a neat and well furnished brick church and a 
small but very intelligent and influential membership. 
All these denominations have connected with each of their 
churches a regular and well-attended Sunday School. 

For Colored Population. — Four Presbyterian, with a 
large membership. The Africo-Presbyterian Church at 
Concord, founded and built by Northern generositj^, is a 
very beautiful brick building. Twenty-two Methodist, and 
two Baptist. 

Schools for White Population. 

Common schools, 64 

Total attendance per year, 1495 

Average attendance at each school, - - - - 23 

Average length of school term, in weeks, - - 8 

For Colored Population. 
Common schools, - - - . . - - - 39 

Total attendance per year, 1052 

Average attendance at each school, - - - - 27 
Average length of school term, in weeks, - - 9 

These common schools are maintained by taxation under 
the State School Law. By the State Constitution the 
schools for whites and blacks are forever ^''separate,'''' with- 
out discrimination in favor, or to the prejudice of either 
race. And each and every school is located in the various 
townships with a view of justice to the school population. 

Besides these Common Schools and the two Academies 
mentioned before there are several schools in Concor^ with 
capable and efficient teachers, chief among which are : 

TJie Concord Male Academy.— LiOcsLted in Concord, sup- 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 309 

ported and patronized by members of the Presbyterian, Meth- 
odist and Lutheran churches and others and under the man- 
agement and instruction of Prof. R. S. Arrowood, a fine 
scholar and teacher. 

The Concord Union School. — Estabhshed and sustained 
by "The Ladies Board of Missions of the Presbyterian 
Church of New York, "aided, originally, by funds of priv^ate 
citizens of Concord. 

This school was founded to promote and aid the educa- 
tion of those white children unable to pay tuition. It is 
well conducted and the instruction good. 

White Hall Seminary. — A limited boarding and day 
school, for white children, within three miles of Concord. 
This school, taught and managed by several well educated 
and accomplished ladies from the North, was established 
and is supported by ' ' The Ladies Board of Missions of the 
Presbyterian Church of New York, " and is doing a great 
and good work in the cause of education. 

Scotia Seminary. — A school for colored girls located in 
Concord, instituted and sustained by "The Freedman's 
Board of the Northern Presbyterian Church." The build- 
ing, situated in beautiful and capacious grounds, is a 
magnificent and costly brick structure. There were present 
during the session just ended 225 scholars; 165 of whom 
were boarders. The course of instruction is full and 
thorough. The institution is presided over with eminent 
and practical ability by Rev. Luke Dorland and his wife, 
aided in their work by a corps of well educated and profi- 
cient instructors all of whom, with Mr, Dorland and his 
wife, are Northerners. This school is a great blessing to 
the colored race, and is doing very much for its advance- 
ment in furnishing well tramed teachers for the colored 
schools in this and other States, and in educating and refin- 
ing its women. 

The last three mentioned schools, so useful and beneficial, 



310 COAL AND lEON COUNTIES 

are splendid monuments to Northern generosity and charity. 

Mineral Interests. — The chief mineral, in the county, of 
intrinsic value is gold, found in the abundant gold-bearing* 
quartz veins, which occur mostly in the metamorphic slates, 
bordering upon the granites. 

Placer-mining is only limited, because the general plateau 
character of the county does not admit of a concentration 
of the detritus containing the free gold. Still, for a great 
many years, placer mining has been and is yet carried on 
here and there with some remunerative success. But the 
universal distribution of free gold over a very large area of 
the county led to the discovery of its source — the veins. 
And a very large number of highly remunerative, true As- 
sure veins have been found and are worked to-day. 

These gold-bearing quartz-leads generally conform to the 
inclination of the country rock, and the direction of their 
outcrop, which is northeast, southwest. And east and 
west as well as due north and south veins have also been 
discovered. The gold found in these veins has been, from 
their apex down to the water level, in a free state but be- 
low the water level the ores become sulphurets ; baffling the 
free gold miner so that he gave up in despair, knowing at 
the same time that the ores were rich in the precious metal. 
And many enterprises were deserted in consequence. And 
in going over Cabarrus County the traveler will see the 
deserted places in great number where the free-gold miner 
had to abandon the rich sulphurets. But in recent years 
the eminently successful working of these sulphuretted 
gold ores by the chlorination process has overcome all 
obstacles ; a daily proof of which is seen in the results at 
the Phoenix and Tucker Mines. 

The Phoenix, at which there has been expended over 
$100, 000, in a complete plant for the reduction of these ores 
by the Mears chlorination process, has been explored to 
a depth of 300 feet by 2,100 feet in length; showing a con- 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 311 

tinuation of splendid ore downwards as w^ell as laterally. 
At present the Phoenix Company has a three years siipplj^ 
of ore in sight averaging, in value, not less than $25 per 
ton. This property is now highly renumerative to its 
owners. The Tucker Mine has been for some time work- 
ing under the Plattner process of chlorination, but is 
changing now to the Mears process of chlorination. At 
this mine there has been a development to the depth of 
100 feet and about 500 feet laterally showing, in all its 
workings, very rich sulpheretted veins with a heavy h'on 
pyritic ore, carrying 1 to 2 per cent, of copper. At the 
Tucker there are many tons of ore on the surface. There 
are on the property four well defined veins rich enough in 
gold to pay handsome dividends to the owners w^ith a pro- 
cess that can be depended on to work the ores within 5 per 
cent, of the assay value, at a reasonable expense. 

Besides these there are the Cullen, Furnace, Quaker City, 
Faggart, Earnhardt, Newell and other properties which, 
from full prospecting, have given proof that they are very 
valuable. 

In a word, while the gold-mining interest of Cabarrus is 
still in its infancy, it can be truthfully said that enough is 
knoivn to insure this interest to be of immense value and a 
most profitable investment for the capitalist, whose coming 
many rich properties are awaiting. 

Factories and Mills. — There are three cotton factories in 
Cabarrus. One, known as The Rocky River factory, is 
located 8 miles from Concord on Rocky River and is run by 
water. At present not in operation. The others are known 
as the factories of 

The Odell Manufacturing Company. — This Company 
own two mills, run by steam and located in the town of 
Concord. 

Mill No. 1 was established in 1840 ; the horse power of 
mill No. 1 is 80 ; the number of spindles 2,000 ; the num- 



312 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 

ber of plaid looms, 74 ; the number of bag looms, 12. Mill 
No. 2 was established in 1882 ; the horse power of mill No. 
2 is 175 ; the number of spindles, 4,000 ; the number of 
plaid looms, 138 ; bag-, 20. Capital stock of company, $130,- 
000; operatives employed in both mills, 275. The products 
of these mills are sold in the south, west and southwest. 
The two mills together use 2000 bales of cotton and consume 
2,000 cords of wood per annum. The profits to the Com- 
pany are large. 

Each township and neighborhood in the county is well 
supplied with flour, corn and saw- mills, run both by steam 
and water. P. B. M. 



Mecklenburg County 

Is located in the southwestern portion of North Carolina, 
north of the 35th parallel of latitude, about two hundred 
miles from the Atlantic coast, and one hundred miles east 
of the Appalachian range of mountains, and is ' bounded on 
the south by the State of South Carolina, and on the west 
by the Catawba River. According to the observations of the 
Government signal station at Charlotte, its mean annual 
temperature for the four years past was 60 9-10^ Fahrenheit, 
with a mean annual rainfall for the same period of 49 77-100 
inches, while its mean elevation above tide water is 770 feet. 
These conditions contribute to give it a delightful and 
healthful climate. Its area comprises about 313,000 acres. 
According to the census of 1880, its population numbered 
34,299, and of this number the whites have a decided ma- 
jority, and control in all departments of the county govern- 
m.ent. Of the entire population only 277 are of foreign 
birth. The county was originally largely settled by Scotch, 
with Irish, Germans, and English, intermingled. By the 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 313 

census of 1880, the value of farms in 1879 was, $3,382,544, 
and the estimated value of farm productions was $1,451,470. 
The appraised value of property for taxation in the county 
for 1881 was $6,354,327. For the year 1882 it was over 
$6,500,000. These assessments are much below the actual 
values. The real value of the personal and real estate is es- 
timated to be over $12,000,000. But two other counties in 
the state show greater value of farms and of annual pro- 
ductions. The natural soil is very fertile, consisting* of a 
loam from 2 to 8 inches deep on the uplands, with a much 
greater depth on the branch, creek, and river bottoms. The 
subsoil is clay and is capable of the highest degree of im- 
provement, being less liable to wash, and more retentive 
and absorbent of fertilizers given to it than other earths. 
The surface is undulating and in places hilly, but rarely 
ever too steep for the use of the plough even on the hill-sides. 
Half a dozen creeks with their clear streams run through 
the county, emptying into the Catawba and Yadkin Rivers, 
and giving much rich and productive land to its riparian 
owners. These streams furnish the power for many mills, 
located upon them, for sawing lumber, grinding wheat and 
corn, and for other purposes. The Catawba River alone, 12 
miles from Charlotte, has a fall of 35 feet m one mile, and 
is capable of running millions of spindles in sight of the 
growing fields of cotton. 

The chief productions of the county are corn, wheat, cot- 
ton, oats, rye, clover, lucerne, orchard grass, turnips, beets, 
cabbage, potatoes (sweet and Irish), apples, peaches, pears, 
cherries, strawberries, peas, beans, and almost every variety 
of grain, grasses, fruits, and vegetables, grown in the tem- 
perate zone. Of the leading grasses, clover, lucerne, or- 
chard grass, etc., will with the same culture here yield far 
more abundantly than in any state north of the Potomac 
river. No better grape region is to be found this side of 
California than this section extending west up to the range 



314 COAL Ai^D lEON COUNTIES 

of the Alleghany mountains. Many varieties of native grapes 
are indigenous to tliis section, iiieluding the Catawba, while 
nearly all the cultivated grapes of other countries as far as 
tried, grow luxuriantly and yield abundantly, and are less 
liable to curcullia, and diseases incident to other localities. 
The latitude, mild and genial climate, give longer season;^: 
for the growth and perfect maturity of cereals, grasses, 
grapes, and other fruits than the conditions of higher lati- 
tudes, a killing frost rarely occurring before November. 
Farmers are giving more attention than ever before to the 
culture of such products, and it may not be long before 
their wine may vie with the best vintage of France and 
Germany. 

The country is well adapted to raising horses, mules, cat- 
tle, hogs and sheep. The abundant yield of grains and 
grasses, with the short and mild winters, greatly facilitate 
their raising. It is not unusual for agriculturists to pro- 
duce from thirty to forty bushels of wheat per acre, and 
one hundred bushels of rust-proof, or black oats, on 
well cultivated lands. With the present loose methods of 
cultivation these results are much above the average, yet 
with the intensive system of farming they are destined to 
become near the average in the not distant future. The 
agricultural development and . capabilities of this county 
are not fully realized or appreciated by even its own intel- 
ligent population. Improved breeds of horses, cows, hogs, 
and sheep are rapidly supplying the places of the old stocks. 
This is particularly the case since the enactment of the law 
requiring all stock to be fenced-in instead of inclosing the cul- 
tivated fields. Lands sell at from $7 to $20 per acre — good 
farms with dwelling and necessary out-buildings at from 
$15 to $30 per acre. 

The forest growth comprises all varieties of the oak 
white, black, post, red, etc., and hickory, dogwood, ash, 
maple, walnut, pine, cedar, gum, elm, cherry, etc., etc. 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 315 

Many of these are valuable on account of the lumber of 
commerce manufactured from them. After the clay the 
principal rocks are granite, silicon, slate, quartz, trap and 
copardite. These are not in sufficient quantities to inter- 
fere with proper tillage except in very rare instances. The 
principal minerals are gold, copper, soapstone and barytes. 
For over fifty years the gold mines have been famous for 
their yield of rich ores. After descending below water- 
level, twenty to forty feet the ores of the veins are con- 
verted into sulphurets, and no complete process has yet 
been introduced and established by which the gold, silver, 
lead and copper can be eliminated. A perfect process for 
separating the valuable metals from the earthy substances 
would prove invaluable, and develop many of the richest 
mines of the continent. 

A large capital is now invested in these mines, some of 
which are being successfully worked. 

Manufacturing is rapidly increasing ; grist, flour, and 
saw mills exist on the creeks and rivers. In addition, 
steam mills are being erected near the forests. One cotton 
factory is in opei*ation and others contemplated. 

The system of agriculture is improving, the mower, 
reaper, drill, new ploughs and other implements, have been 
successfully introduced. While cotton is still the leading 
production of the farms, labor is finding other and greater 
variety of employments. The mechanical arts are inviting 
fields for skilled labor, more of which is required to supply 
the hundreds of agricultural, mechanical and domestic 
tools and implements, made of iron and wood, now imported 
from other States, with the woods and iron ores in profus- 
ion around us. The freight saved on those manufactured 
here would be a good profit, with the raw material in 
close proximity to the factory. Inexhaustible beds of iron 
ore are within thirty miles, and coal within.one hundred and 
fifty miles. 



316 COAL AND lEON COUNTIES 

This county contains four towns. — Davidson College, 
Pineville, Huntersville and Matthews, besides the city of 
Charlotte, the county seat, all showing commercial life and 
activity and affording markets for the country. Charlotte, 
called after Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg, has a pop- 
ulation of over 8,000, and does a large commercial and 
manufacturing business, and is noted for its schools and 
churches, as is also the county generally. Four railroads 
terminate at Charlotte, and one passes through, making six 
lines that radiate in different directions from the centre, 
leading directly to Washington City, Richmond, Norfolk, 
Wilmington, Charleston, Augusta, Atlanta and East Ten- 
nessee. The free school system is in ojDeration, offering ed- 
ucation to all, the white and colored being separate, while 
many high schools and academies are in the country and 
towns, with two graded schools in Charlotte containing an 
average of over one thousand scholars. The people have 
ever been distinguished for their love of liberty, law and 
order, education and refinement. Queen's College existed 
in Charlotte long before the Revolutionary war, and David- 
son College, now so flourishing, is an institution that the 
lovers of learning very justly admire wherever its thorough 
curriculum and able faculty are known. Perhaps no 
county in the South is more devoted to the cause of educa- 
tion and religion. The Presbyterians, Methodists, Baptists, 
Seceders, Episcopalians, Roman Catholics, and Lutherans, 
all have their churches, and worship God according to the 
dictates of their own consciences. 

The early settlers of Mecklenburg County were exiles 
from civil and religious tyranny. Impressed with the harsh- 
ness of monarchies, and deeply imbued with the princi- 
ples of civil and religious liberty they transmitted 
them to their descendants. These principles were 
also developed in the Declaration of Independence for 
the county, proclaimed to a large assemblage in Charlotte 



OF NORTH CAEOLINA. 317 

on the 20th of May, 1775, and in the first Republican form 
of government adopted by the people for the county on the 
31st of the same month. 

This section is located hundreds of miles in a southwestern 
direction from the Atlantic coast, with extended forests in- 
tervening, and is sheltered from the north and west by an 
elevated mountain range. One may visit many portions of 
this continent, and when he considers all the conditions ex- 
isting here calculated to make hf e agreeable and happy, the 
almost entire exemption from great and sudden meteorologi- 
cal changes, storms, hurricanes, cyclones, the complete ex- 
emption from cholera and yellow fever, and nearly so from 
pulmonary diseases, equable and mild climate, pure spring 
and well water, fertile soil, mineral resources, water-power 
and varieties of timber, grains, grasses, fruits, and flowers, 
intelligent and moral population, school and church facili- 
ties, he will find no country more inviting than old Meck- 
lenburg to the intelligent and industrious emigrant, who 
will at all times be cordially welcomed and generously re- 
ceived by her people. W. J. 

MANUFACTURES AND MINING. 

Within a radius of 30 miles of Charlotte, all.of them trib- 
utary to Mecklenburg's trade, there are 10 cotton factories : 

1. The Mountain Island Mills, 12 miles from Charlotte ; 
5,000 spindles ; makes osnaburgs, plaids, sheetings, yarns 
and warps ; lights with gas of its own manufacture ; sells 
its products in Philadelphia, St. Louis and Chicago, and at 
Charlotte, N. C. 

2. The Woodlawn Mills, 16 miles ; employs 200 hands ; 
75 looms and 2, 500 spindles ; manufactures osnaburgs, 
plaids, sheeting, yarn and warps, plain, colored and knitting 
yarns, and sells all its productions from this market. One 
mile from Lowell. Water power for sale or lease. 

3. The Lawrence Mills, 16 milfes ; 5,500 spindles, capacity 



318 COAL ATSTD IRON COUNTIES 

25,000 ; makes warps and yarns ; I mile from Woodlawn 
Mills. At Lowell, Gaston County, distant one mile, is 
depot. Water power for sale or lease. 

4. Mount Holly Mills, 12 miles, 2,000 spindles ; makes 
warps. By survey there is here 12,000 horse-power of water 
developed, only 200 in use. Sells Nortti ; is increasing. 

5. Gastonia Mills, 17 miles ; 4,000 spindles, makes warps 
and yarns, and sells North. 

6. Stowesville Factory, 16 miles ; 2, 000 spindles, 24 looms ; 
makes yarns and shirtings for home markets ; is increasing. 

7. Odell & Co. Mills, 18 miles ; runs 2,000 spindles and 
50 looms ; makes yarns and sheetings for home market. 

8. Phifer & Allison's, 35 miles; 1,500 spindles and 30 
looms ; makes shirting and yarns for home market. 

9. Rocky River Mills, 20 miles ; 1,000 spindles, 15 looms ; 
yarns and sheetings for home market. 

10. McAden Mills, 8,500 spindles, capacity 50,000. Manu- 
factures warps and yarns, uses electric light. Water power 
for sale or lease ; 10,000 horse power developed, 200 in use. 
Located at Lowell, N. C 

The Lawrence Mills, mentioned above, are entirely new, 
having commenced operations in June 1879. 

Charlotte can show better opportunities for various manu- 
facturing enterprises than any other city in the South. It 
has a start and cannot retrograde. 

All in all persons locating in and about here will find a 
greater blending of all the requisites which produce business 
ease and home luxury, at less cost and with lighter effort 
than can be found elsewhere. 

There are nine gold mines in this County. Its mining 
developments are mainly auriferous, but with the gold 
which has been found there, has nearly always been a 
small per cent, of silver. Most of the mines yield at times 
some copper ore, and a few mines show a tendency to ore of 
that character nearly exclusively. Lead in the form of 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 319 

galena, or sulphuret of lead, has been found in the Moore 
and Smart mines, on the borders of Union County. 

Numerous surface indications of iron are found in the 
western portion of the County, notably in Steel Creek 
township. The scarcity of iron in the South during- the late 
war between the States, and the necessity for a good supply 
of that important "sinew of war," stimulated an active 
search for the iron deposits which were thought to be indi- 
cated by the surface specimens, found in several parts of the 
County, but the search was not rewarded with such success 
as to lead to the developmg any iron mines of importance, 
and there is now little hope that any mineral wealth of that 
character will ever be found in the County. Just over the 
line, however, in Lincoln and Catawba Counties, iron 
mines of great value have been worked, some of them for a 
century at least, and recently the owners of the High 
Shoals mines have been shipping the iron ore to Pittsburg, 
Pa. , at a good profit. 

The gold mining industry of Mecklenburg County, like 
that of this metal everywhere, has been an eventful one ; 
now in vigorous work, then almost dead. Not less than 
fifty-five localities, within the area of the County, have been 
explored for gold. At present the following are Avorked : 

The Hopewell Mine is nine miles northwest of Char- 
lotte. It has been worked down for about 100 feet, with 
good results. The ore, which has a considerable per cent, 
of copper, is said to assay only moderately well for gold. 

The McGinn Mine is five miles northwest of Charlotte, 
has three well defined veins, two carrymg the gold ores 
usually found in this section, and a third having rich 
copper as well as gold ore. The latter is the only ore pros- 
pected now. The depth reached is 165 feet, from which a 
drift has been latelj^ run nearly to the vein. The more 
prominent of the two gold veins has been penetrated to a 
depth of 150 feet, and worked .with some success as deep 



320 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 

as the machinery could control the in-flowing water. Dif- 
ferent assays of the ores have been made which range in 
value from $4.37 to $137.93 per ton. The gold vein above 
alluded to runs on the south into the adjacent 

Capp's Mining Property, where it is joined by another 
prominent vein. The system has been worked to a depth of 
200 feet, but work at present is not carried on lower than 
150 feet. At last reports several hundreds of tons of good 
ore were on the dump, and the work of development is to 
be continued. It has been worked for many years, Dy dif- 
ferent owners, and how much gold it has produced is a 
matter of conjecture, though it is credited in the neighbor- 
hood with over $2,000,000. Different assays made at long 
intervals have been per ton as follows : $7. 10, $56.35, $96.37, 
$133.00 and $133.76. 

The Arlington Guarantee Mine, five miles west of 
Charlotte, has been worked to a depth of about 100 feet, 
and a large amount of brown ore is at command. The 
milling machinery at present in use is a modified form of 
the old Carolina gold mill, and the prospective outlook is 
favorable. 

The Clark Mine, two and a half miles west of Char- 
lotte, has been worked to a depth of seventy feet only, and 
nearly always with good results. Its ores have assayed 
from $8.34 to $164.44 per ton. 

The Rudisill Mine, located one mile southwest of Char- 
lotte, has been worked down to a depth of 300 feet, and 
its product is thought to have been very remunerative to 
its owners. No one now knows when it was first worked, 
or how much gold it has produced, though it is popularly 
credited with $2,000,000, and it has proven so far the most 
valuable gold mine in the county, possibly because it has 
been more largely developed. Being almost in the suburbs 
of Charlotte, it has always had a larger share of attention, 
and a larger capital has been employed in its development 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 321 

than any other mine in the county. The title to it has 
repeatedly been in litigation, but it is now finally settled 
and the title perfect, and this fact has prevented the de- 
velopment which should have taken place. The ores are 
very rich, but the gold is found in sulphurets, which, un- 
til the establishment of reduction works in the neighbor- 
hood, have proven very refractory. It is equipped with a 
ten stamp mill, and other necessary machinery for keep- 
ing out the water, and also for elevating the ores. The 
highest assay of its ore, made at the branch mint in Char- 
lotte, was $130.22 per ton. It is in full operation now, 
and is paying handsomely. 

The St. Catherine Mine is in the near vicinity of the 
Rudisill, on the same vein probably, and is only one-half 
mile west of Charlotte. Two shafts have been sunk to a 
depth of about 100 feet, and a considerable dum^) of good 
ore has been accumulated, from a vein from three to four 
feet wide. The highest assay of ore from this mine was 
$147.50 per ton. 

The Smith and Palmer Mine, one and a half miles 
west of Charlotte, is probably on the same vein with the 
Rudisill and the St. Catherine mines. A shaft has been 
sunk to a depth of 100 feet, and developments so far in- 
dicate good results. The highest reported assay is $149.59. 

The Baltimore and North Carolina Mine is situated 
nine miles east of Charlotte, near the Carolina Central 
Kailroad. It is equipped with first-class machinery and has 
been successfully worked for some years. It has five veins 
on its property, three only of which are worked. The mine 
is entered by five shafts, the deepest being 120 feet. The 
ores are heavy sulphurets containing some copper, with 
some brown ores. The vein is from one to four feet wide, 
the total length of which is said to be some four miles. The 
ores have always assayed well, and the plant is thought to 
be very valuable. 



322 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 

The Ferris Mine lies six miles north east of Charlotte, 
and is regarded as a prominent mining property, with at 
least three veins. It is not now oi^erated. Assays of ores 
from this mine have shown a value f>f $512. 94 per ton, 
though of course this was from an extra good specimen of 
ore. 

The Simpson Mine, in the same neighborhood, yields 
quartz ores with little sulphurets. Assays of ores from this 
mine show it to be valuable. 

The Stephen Wilson Mine, nine miles west of Charlotte, 
has ten well defined veins, on its 310 acres of ground. 
Assays of ores taken from this mine have reached as high 
as $355.96 per ton. 

The Black Mine has a small, but very rich vein of the 
finest kind of brown ore, which at different times have as- 
sayed as follows: $50.16, $56.86, $62.00, $488.12. A Chilian 
mill is used for reduction purposes, and large lots of the ore 
have milled more than $50.00 per ton. 

These thirteen mines comprise the principal mines in the 
County, but besides these gold, silver and copper, and 
sometimes all three have been found at other points. 

The Carson, Sam. Taylor and Icy hour, south-west from 
Charlotte. 

The Wilson and McDonald, one and a half miles to the 
south-east. 

The Davidson Mines, one mile west. 

The Trotter, three miles south-west, cut through by the 
Air Line R. R. 

The Dunn Mine, nine miles west, with three veins, one 
with copper. 

The Frasier, Hipp and Todd, are near by. 

The Henderson and the Chapman are to the north-west. 

The Hunter Mine, at Huntersville, sixteen miles north of 
Charlotte, has been explored to a depth of 23 feet, with 
promising exposure. 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 823 

The Crosby, Rogei-s and Pioneer Mills Mines, are 12 to 17 
miles north-east of Charlotte. They all carry copper pjTites 
in considerable quantity. The Newell and Pharr mines are 
near by. 

The Johnston, Stinson, Maxwell and Rea Mines are 7 to 
9 miles east of Charlotte. 

The Tredennick Mine is 7 miles east. 

The Alexander is 5i miles east. 

The Caldwell is 6 miles north-east. 

The Harris Mine is ten miles nearly east of Charlotte. 
The stretch of mining property upon which this mine is sit- 
uated is thought to have some rich gravel. Surface Hill, 
one of these localities, is famous for its rich nuggets, and 
occasional pockets of ore are found of extreme richness. 

The farm of the Elliott Brothers, five miles south of 
Charlotte, is thought to contain several veins of gold ore 
and the Nolan, Jordan, Means, Bennett, Cathey, G. C. 
Cathey, Sloan, Gibson and the McCorkle Mines are all 
within easy reach of Charlotte. 

It may be safely asserted that the outlook for the devel- 
opment of the mining interests of Mecklenburg County is 
very favorable. 

The discovery and development of the gold mines of this 
county has exhibited the same i)hases as in other parts o 
the country where gold has been found. It is a tradition 
that the Oliver Mine, m Gaston County, near the Mecklen- 
burg line, was worked prior to the Revolutionary War by 
a German miner, and a similar tradition attributes similar 
work to a mine near Rock Hill, S. C. A more reliable 
tradition indicates considerable underground work in the 
''Aborigines' Tunnel," at the Brown Mine, in South 
Carolina. 

The first recorded discovery of gold in this section oj the 
South was at the Reed mine in Cabarrus County, at that 
time a part of Mecklenburg County. Conrad Reed, son 



324 GOAL AND lEON COUNTIES 

of the owner, in 1799 found a piece of native gold ' ' as large 
as a smoothing-iron," which is correct as the traditional 
''piece of chalk." Its value was not even guessed and it is 
asserted that for several years it was used to hold the door 
of Mr. Reed's cabin in position. Its remarkable weight 
together with continued abrasions of its surface finally led 
to an inquiry as to its value, and finally Mr. Reed took it 
to Fayetteville where a jeweler paid him three dollars and 
fifty cents ($3. 50) for it — which was perhaps not more than 
one fiftieth of its real value. The same locality was for 
many years prolific of large masses, the largest indeed 
known, until the gold discoveries of California and Austra- 
lia. Col. Jno. H. Wheeler in his "Sketches of North 
Carolina " gives a list of fourteen nuggets found mainly in 
this section, which aggregated weighed 115 pounds avoir- 
dupois. The active work at the Reed mine must have been 
considerably later than the beginning of the present cen- 
tury, and the substantial rewards received for this regular 
work, led to a very general hunt for the precious metal 
along the entire Appalachian slope as early as 1820, and 
in numerous localities a general harvest was reaped. 

At first only placers were worked, but the exhaustion of 
these led the miners to hunt up the veins which were the 
source of the supply, and it is certain that many of the 
mines mentioned in this catalogue were opened as early as 
1825. At the outset the veins proved no less remunerative 
than the placer mining had done, for the ore was easily and 
cheaply mined, and the ores were quickly "reduced". 
The point was reached then, however, when the easily 
treated ores became refractory from the presence of unal- 
tered sulphurets, and the occurrence of large bodies of water 
below the permanent water line (40 to 60 feet) made ex- 
pensive pumping apparatus a necessity, so increasing the 
cost of mining that work in the mines was seriously retard- 
ed, and many of the veins were abandoned. As a rule the 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 820 

ores now mined in this section are tlie refractory siilphurets, 
which need a smelting or chemical treatment. 

The production of gold in this part of North Carolina 
had become so general by the year 1830 that grave incon- 
venience was experienced in its conversion into coin. The 
merchants charged a large commission for handling it and 
four months were generally necessary for returns from the 
Philadelphia Mint. At length, in 1830, a commission was 
appointed by the State Legislature to investigate and report 
upon the subject, and this report and subsequent agitation 
led to the establishment of the Branch Mint at Charlotte by 
the act of the Federal Congress of March 3, 1835. The 
mint was opened for business Dec. 4, 1837, but it was 
burned down in July 1844. It was re-erected in 1845-47, 
and did business regularly until the beginning of the civil 
war in 1861. It was revived lq 1867, but only as an assay 
office. 

The entire amount of gold bullion deposited at the Char- 
lotte mint from its opening to June 30, 1882, was $5, 473, 765. ^« 
The entire amount of gold bullion deposited at all the offices 
of the United States up to June 30, 1882, from North Caro- 
lina was $10,786,316*^^ In addition to this large amount it 
may be safely said that the amount actually produced was 
at least twice this amount, since it is well known that for 
forty years the beauty of our native gold led to the con- 
sumption of large quantities for jewelry, which never passed 
through the government offices. 

The ores of the County, as has alreadj^ been stated, are 
mostly refractory sulphurets. To treat these three ' ' Reduc- 
tion Works " have recently been erected in the County. 
The " New York and North Carolina ", the '^Adams' " and 
" Designoll's". The two former are not in operation now, 
but the latter is said to be doing a fine business. 

In Charlotte there are several large foundry and machine 
si 1 ops, and a large cotton seed oil mill is in course of erec- 
tion. It will be in operation this fall. C. R. J. 



326 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 



Anson County 



Is situated in the southeastern part of Middle North 
Carohna. It was established in 1749, and comprehended all 
the western portion of the State from New Hanover and 
Bladen on the east as far as the limits of the State extended 
on the west. It derives its name from Admiral Anson who 
obtained a victory over the French Fleet off Cape Finisterre 
a short time before the county was erected. It is bounded 
on the east by Richmond County, — the Great Pee Dee 
River, the name by which the Yadkin River is known after 
its confluence with the Uwharrie, runs the entire length of 
tlieir common boundary; on the south by Chesterfield 
County in South Carolina, on the north by Stanly County, 
Rocky River being- the line of divide, and on the west by 
Union County. It is on the 35th parallel of latitude and 
3rd mei'idian of longitude. Its height above these a level 
is from 550 to 700 feet. The surface of the county is hilly 
and its area is about 500 square miles. 

There are a number of creeks in the county which give 
it a fair proportion of good bottom lands. Lane's Creek 
in the northern part, Big Brown Creek about seven miles 
from it, with the same general direction in the course of 
the two, that is from the west — northwest to east — Little 
Brown Creek, Goulas Fork and Culpepper, all of these are 
]iorth of the Capital Town of the county, Wadesboro ; 
originally Newtown, changed to its present name after Col. 
Thomas Wade, who achieved reputation in the war of 1776. 
It is 125 miles by rail from Raleigh, 135 miles by rail from 
Wilmington, 51 miles by rail from Charlotte, 160 miles 
by rail from Charleston, South Carolina, and 65 miles 
from Salisbury. It is located about the geographical centre 
of the county, which is nearly square in shape. South of 
the Capital Town /the most important of the streams is Jones 



OF NOKTH CAROLINA. 327 

Creek. Dead Fall is in tlie western part of the county, 
and Savannah, Cedar, Smith, and other creeks rise and 
empty in the eastern part of the county. The southern 
part of the county has a good deal of long leaf pine. The 
streams, including the two rivers, afford water power 
amounting to hundreds of thousands horse power, and their 
banks are in many places covered with choice shell bark 
hickory, common hickory, white oak, water and other oaks 

The two geological formations, that is the fiat low country 
bordering the ocean and extending thence one hundred or 
more miles, and that common in the more elevated part 
of the State, meet and overlap each other about the Pee 
Dee River. There are many beds of the finest buildmg 
stone in Anson County. Red, pale and gray sandstone, 
blue and gray granite, abound ; indeed the quantity is such 
that the necessities of several cities as large as Rich- 
mond, Virginia, and Charleston S. C. would not exhaust it 
in many years. 

Cotton, corn and the small grains are the staple crops of 
the county ; cotton is the leading crop, and the staple grown 
here is the best upland cotton grown north of Mobile, 
Alabama. It is said that many of the fleecy woollen blan- 
kets made in the United States are manufactured of Anson 
County cotton. The granite grit immediately north and 
south of Jones Creek is specially noted for the superior 
staple produced on it. The late Dr. Mitchell of Chapel 
Hill, who lost his life in the interest of science, pronounced 
the gray granite grit of the Jones Creek section the best for 
cotton he had seen. It is confidently believed this part of 
the county would produce as good tobacco as is grown in 
the United States. Blackberries, strawberries and raspber- 
ries grow spontaneously and yield most bountifully when 
cultivated. Vegetables of all kinds grow to perfection and 
mature as early as at any other place in the State as far 
from the Gulf Stream as this. The grape is an unfailing 



328 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 

crop, free from disease, and the fruit of excellent quality. 

Since the late war the system of farming has been greatly 
improved in Anson County and the yield of cotton per 
acre has been increased 100 per cent. This has been 
wrought by judicious attention applied to farming, show- 
ing itself in improved seeds and tools, better manipulated 
fertilizers, increased home made manure, more thorough 
preparation of the land, and fuller and more accurate knowl- 
edge of the cotton plant. It is believed that a system of 
rotation of crops, such as has been tried and approved by 
leading intelligent farmers of the Atlantic cotton belt, will 
become the settled i)olicy of our farmers at an early day 
and that the results will far surpass the most sanguine cal- 
culation of to-day . 

Every man who owns cattle, hogs, sheep, goats or horses, 
in Anson County is now compelled to pasture them on his 
own land. None are allowed to run at large on the range. 
This system came Into effect in our county about two years 
ago, and so much is it esteemed already that a return to 
the old style of fencing the crops against the incursions of 
stock is next to impos, Ible. This is regarded as the most 
important single step taken in this county in the last twenty 
years. Its beneficent influence is apparent in the great ap- 
preciation of our cattle. If people have to keep a cow up 
and feed her they will be sure to have a good cow to begin 
with or improve the strain at the earliest convenience. 
Very little virgin growth will be felled in future. Clear- 
ings will extend only to lands once cleared and tilled, then 
turned out and now covered with old field pines, perhaps 
the best friends owners of worn out Southern fields have in 
the way of recuperators of the soil. Now the hedge rows 
are cultivated, brier beds have been cleaned and turned into 
smiling plats. Flats have been invaded and made to yield 
of their opulence. This no-fence system in a county like 
Anson, which has been lonff cultivated and much of the 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 329 

original growth destroyed by our fathers, and all of the 
present labor to hire and pay for, is a solid blessing. If the 
sohd and sure progress thus far accomplished were supple- 
mented with well made roads, Anson County would be as 
desirable a spot as there is on earth. 

Our educational advantages are good. Choice schools 
at Ansonville, Polkton, Lilesville, Wadesboro and other 
points afford abundant opportunities for those who wish 
high academic training. Our public school system is intel- 
ligently administered. 

The health of our citizens in unsurpassed in this division 
of the State. We are entirely free from contagious diseases. 

Our public debt bearing interest is about $15, 000 ; our 
floating debt is cashed at sight. The officers who control 
public affairs are honorable and just, and there are but few 
petty jealousies in the county. We have a population 
largely composed of honorable and brave men, accom- 
plished and virtuous women. R. T. B. 



Montgomery Oounty. 

Is the second from the southern boundary of the State. 
Area, 575 square miles. Population : white, 6,857 ; colored, 
2,517 ; total, 9,374. Assessed value of taxable property in 
1883, $1,151,057. 

The general surface is undulating and a large proportion 
is susceptible of profitable cultivation , 

The best farming lands are smooth, level and near the 
creeks and rivers, and are of a dark loam and very produc- 
tive ; characterized by uniformity of crops, principally 
grain. A still larger proportion is a light gray loam and 
sandy soil, fairly productive. The county is about one-third 
of the latter class. 



330 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 

It is estimated by the census returns that there is in the 
county 150,000 acres of thickly wooded long leafed pine, 
averaging 60 pines per acre of 500 feet each, board measure, 
of merchantable lumber. 

There is also 50,000 acres covered by a variety of other 
timbers, such as short leafed pine, oaks of the several kinds, 
hickory, ash, elm, gum and dogwood, of which oaks, 
hickory, pine, gum and dogwood are most abundant. 

The principal streams are the Pee Dee, Yadkin, Uwharrie 
and Little Rivers, and Cheek's Mountain, Downing, Clark's 
Island, Barnes, Hamer, Dinson, Rocky and Beaver Dam 
Creeks. The Yadkin and Pee Dee is the dividing line be- 
tween Montgomery and Stanly Counties. The first named 
is noted for its falls and narrows just above its junction 
with the Uwharrie, making the Pee Dee. 

Ten miles above the mouth of the Uwharrie the Yadkin 
is a fraction over 600 yards wide and at three miles above the 
mouth of the Uwharrie is the Narrows, where the stream 
rushes between its banks only sixty feet apart, falling 
thirty-five feet in one-quarter of a mile, and just below the 
Narrows is the falls, where the stream makes another rapid 
fall about half that of the Narrows, and it is estimated that 
the falls in the Yadkin River for eight miles aggregate over 
100 feet, furnishing numerous sites for mills where its 
waters now rush wasting by. Uwharrie and Little Rivers 
as well as the creeks furnish water for mills. Numerous 
springs of pure water abound, and some are resorted to for 
their healing properties, the most noted being the Sulphur 
in the eastern part of the county. 

The soils are adapted to a diversity of crops. Corn, 
wheat, cotton, oats, rye, barley, potatoes, Irish and sweet, 
and sorghum grow well and return a large yield. Peaches, 
plums, apples, pears and grapes are successfully grown, 
and a large portion of the county — being the eastern and 
middle — is wonderfully adapted to the growth of grapes, 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 331 

which ripen perfectly, yielding the finest wines, and we 
have native grapes of the finest variety. Vegetables of all 
kinds grow well. 

Unimproved lands suitable for farms can be bought from 
$2 to $10 per acre, while improved lands can be bought in 
proportion to the value of improvements. Lands under 
cultivation can be rented from $1 to $5 per acre. 

Native grasses in the timber furnish good pasturage most 
of the year and the mast of oak and pine one year in three 
is sufficient to fatten hogs for the market and generally suf- 
ficient f o keep stock entirely ; and many are found wild in 
the woods, never having been fed. Domestic fowls are 
easily raised. In parts of the county there is much game, 
deer, turkey and other smaller varieties. We have fish in 
all our streams, but shad are most Highly prized. 

There is a great number of saw and flouring mills run 
both by water and steam. Pine lumber is worth from $5 
to $6 per thousand at the mill. 

Troy, the county seat, in the centre of the county, is a 
pleasant place, noted for its good water, healthy location 
and quiet citizensliip. There is an excellent school all the 
while and two churches, Methodist and Baptist. 

The Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian and Christian de- 
nominations have church organizations and many excellent 
houses of worship. 

There are 70 public free schools for a scholastic popula- 
tion of 3,276. There are also five high grade private 
schools. 

One other fact but little known to the public is the vast 
amount of territory in the county yielding gold and other 
minerals undeveloped, both of vein and placer diggings. 
The developments so far are of a crude and unsystematic 
character. These belts of mineral lands run through the 
county in parallel lines, about north 40° east, and vary 
from 4 to 6 miles apart. The most eastern runs about cen- 



332 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 

tral through the county, embracing the Sam Christian, a 
placer mine, and the Carter and Reynolds Vein Mines. 
From the former nuggets have been taken weighing four 
pounds and eight and a quarter pounds avoirdupois. The 
next belt is northwest about four miles ; about the same in 
length as the first (16 miles j, embraces the Wood Run 
Mine — placer — at the southwest, and the Moore Mines 
northwest, the latter a vein lately discovered and but little 
worked, the ore yielding from $10 to $40 per ton by actual 
mill test. The next belt, about six miles further northwest, 
is chiefly placer diggings, and running nearly parallel with 
the Uwharrie River and about one mile distant, embracing 
the Island Creek Mines, Worth Mine, Bunnell Mountain 
and Dry Hollow. Of these the Worth, Bunnell Mountain 
and Dry Hollow have yielded large amounts of gold, but 
to be successfully worked requires water to be brought from 
the Uwharrie River, which has never been done. The 
largest nuggets from these mines weighed from one to four 
pounds, the largest being from Dry Hollow. The next line 
is about four miles northwest of the last named, and em- 
braces the Hearne Mine, Steele Mine and Rigins' Hill, all 
vein mines ; the Steele being regarded as the best and is 
still very rich, and is owned by the Baltimore & Montgom- 
ery Mining Company. The next line embraces the Peebles 
Gold Mine and others of recent discovery, known as the 
Davis or Dutton Mine, all vein mines, the latter reputed 
rich. The next line embraces the Beaver Dam Mines, the 
Davis Mine and Harris Mine, chiefly of a placer character, 
except the latter, which has both vein and placer diggings, 
considered good but only partially developed. Some very 
fine nuggets have been found along this line, and from the 
Beaver Dam in one year, worked in the old crude way/ 
$20,000 was taken out. 

The iron of the county is without a test so far, except to 
ascertain that it is a good quahty. At two or more points 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 333 

immense quantities are found in hills or masses. Galena is 
found at two points, one on each side of the Uwharrie 
River— one near El Dorado P. 0., and the other near 
Uwharrie P. O. 

The sandstone of the county is on a line about twelve 
miles southeast of the first gold belt mentioned. The whet- 
stone quarries and grindstone quarries are between these 
belts. 

In this county is a fine field for enterprising miners, man- 
ufacturei-s and others, and those washing to visit the county 
to reach the Court House at the nearest railroad point will 
get off at Lilesville, on the Carolina Central Railroad, or at 
Manly, on the Air-line Railroad. A daily mail runs from 
Troy to LilesvUle. C. C. W. 



Randolph County. 

The geographical position of Randolph County is a little 
west of the centre of the State. It contains 728 square 
miles. Its population in 1880 was 20, 836 ; in 1870, 17,551. 
Its farms in 1880 are stated in the census to number 2,923, 
of 100,888 acres of improved land, at $2,197,516 value ; and 
their products at $633,167. Its corn crop was 477,168 
bushels ; wheat, 137,104 bushels ; hay, 4,951 tons. Its 
manufactures are valued at $894,462 — nearly l-20th of the 
State's productions reported in the census. 

The county is intersected by two principal streams and 
their tributaries. Deep River, a component of the Cape 
Fear, runs in a tortuous course from near the northwestern 
to the southeastern corner of the county. Its bottoms are 
narrow, the hills often rising abruptly on either side from 
the water's edge. Although the bottoms are too small for 
extensive crops, the adjacent hills within the range of evap- 
oration from the river are productive. 



334 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 

The Uwharrie Eiver, a tributary of the Pee Dee, runs 
across the western border of the county, from north to 
south, within a few miles of the Davidson line. The bot- 
tom lands of Uwharrie and its tributary, the Caraway, are 
of much larger extent than those of Deep River, and are 
very productive. The Uwharrie bottoms and adjacent up- 
lands are naturally as fine for all agricultural purposes as 
any lands in the Piedmontane section of the South. The 
soil on Sandy Creek, in the northeastern part of the county, 
is kindly, producing fine returns for the labor bestowed. 

The northern and western portions of the county are 
wooded principally with oak in its several varieties, inter- 
spersed on the Uwharrie lands with a sprinkle of black lo- 
cust. The whole central and southeastern portion is thin 
land, (except narrow strips along the rivulets,) all covered 
with a growth of short-leaved pines. These pines within 
the last few years have come largely into use for building 
purposes. 

The face of the country is gently undulating, with the 
exception of the bluffs along Deep River and the Caraway 
hills in the western part of the county. These last rise al- 
most to the measure and dignity of mountains. The same 
may be said of the hills of Little River, immediately south, 
part of the same system, extending down through Mont- 
gomery. They are picturesque and striking to the eye of 
the beholder, and, from many points of view, really grand 
in outline. It looks as if a large lot of stuff left over in 
making the Alleghanies had been piled up in Randolph and 
Montgomery. 

Mining was pursued to a considerable extent before the 
late political troubles stopped enterprise of all sorts. The 
spirit is reviving. The Hoover Hill Mine, under manage- 
ment of an English Company, is as yet, however, the only 
one efficiently wrought, and is represented to be rich in 
product. 



OF NOETH CAEOLINA. 335 

There are six or seven large saw mills located in different 
portions of the pine woods, where lumber of all varieties is 
turned out in the rough for market. At Bush Hill, in the 
northwest corner of the county, there is an. extensive sash 
and blind factory and planing mills, which have been in 
successful operation for several years. At the same place 
a tannery and shoe manufactory are doing good business. 
There is also a sash and blind factory at Eandleman. The 
streams are everywhere dotted with grist and saw mills for 
neighborhood custom — many of them fitted up for ' ' mer- 
chant work." 

Trinity College, a seat of education known and valued 
for many years past throughout the Southern country, is 
situated in the northwestern corner of Randolph, within 
easy distance of the N. C. Railroad, at High Point. There 
are, besides, a few schools of academic grade in the county. 

Ashboro is the Court House town, located at the centre 
of the county, a remarkably healthy and pleasant situation. 
There are but few other villages except along the river at 
the factories. 

It is tne cotton manufacturing interest on Deep River 
which gives to Randolph its chief distinction — a position 
which she is likely to maintain while water runs and cotton 
grows. The water power of this river is a power of nature, 
perpetual and exhaustless ; never interrupted but in excep- 
tional seasons of drought. 

An intelligent gentleman, who is accurate in his obser- 
vations and careful in his figures, remarks that there are 
eleven factories from Jamestown, in Guilford, to Enter- 
prise, in Randolph. Of these nine are in Randolph. In 
order to give a view of this industry as a whole, beginning 
at Jamestown, the distance by road to Enterprise is about 
36 miles. The distance by the river is of course much 
longer. Fix)m best information at hand the fall is over 
three hundred feet altogether. Something over one hun- 



336 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES ' 

dred feet have been utilized by the eleven factories already 
in operation. There are still nearly two hundred feet of 
fall that can and will be utilized. Most of the mills are 
provided with steam power to be used in the event of too 
high or too low water in the river. This water, as it flows 
down, now turns 28, 000 spindles, and moves over 700 looms, 
besides various other machinery, such as corn mills, flour 
mills, saw mills, etc. The capital invested on the river in 
factories is now $786,000 ; and over 1,200 hands are worked 
in the factories, besides others who find concomitant work ; 
so that some 4,000 or 5,000 are supported by these enter- 
prises. The question is asked. Where does the capital come 
from ? — none of the citizens have large capital. The answer 
is easy. The people are forming joint stock companies, and 
co-operating to furnish work for those who need it and to 
build up the country. 

The importance of this matter will justify a cursory view 
of these establishments in detail. 

"Randleman," (formerly Union), stands at the head of 
the list, and first in order on the river in Randolph. It is 
situated on the main road leading from Greensbor(?, south. 
A considerable town has grown up around it, and is still 
growing. The site is what a landscape painter would call 
romantic. The statistics are not at hand at this writing for 
a detailed description. Suffice it, that it is the largest on 
the river. 

"Naomi," just below, with over 200 hands, makes daily 
2,300 pounds of warp. The pay rolls of Randleman and 
Naomi together count up over $8,000 per month. 

" Worth ville. " — Building 50 by 240 feet, four stories. 
Runs at present 52 looms, 3,100 spindles, turning out 
2,000 yards of sheeting and 600 seamless bags per day. 
Employs 175 hands and consumes 2.000 pounds cotton 
daily. 

"Central Falls. "—Building 50 by 200 feet, three stories. 



OF NOETH CAROLINA. 837 

Floor capacity for 150 looms and 5,000 spindles. A num- 
ber up and more being placed in position. 

"Cedar Falls.'' — The pioneer establishment, put up be- 
fore 1840 by Col. B. Elliott and his son Henry B. Con- 
sumes 1,500 pounds cotton per day, made into sheetings, 
yarns, warps and twine. Sixty looms," 2,100 spindles, 90 
operatives. 

" Franklinsville. '' — Two miles below. 20 looms, 960 
spindles, 18 cards, consumes 1,200 pounds cotton per day. 
The manufacture of seamless bags a specialty, the produc- 
tion inadequate to the large demand. 

"Randolph,"' (late Island Ford.j — Capacity 50 looms, 
2,000 spindles, 14 cards, producing 3, 000 yards sheeting and 
consuming 1,200 pounds cotton per day. 

"Columbia," (late Deep River), two and a half miles 
below. Much new machinery lately received. Only warps 
manufactured. 

"Enterprise." — Last, but not to be the least, when every- 
thing is got in good working order. 

It should be remembered that all these establishments are 
growing — new machinery coming in and being put in 
place. It is therefore difficult to give statistics which will 
last long. 

Villages have grown up around these factories of from 
200 or 300 to over 1,000. Churches and schools are en- 
couraged and cherished by proprietors and operatives. 

It is but just to say, here, that the people of Randolph 
are of a high average of intelligence ; steady-going, mod- 
est and moral ; in short, model North Carolinians. 

L. S. 



338 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 



Gnilford Oonnty, 



Guilford County is situated in the north central part of 
North Carolina, measures 26 miles from north to south and 
28 miles from east to west, containing 728 square miles. 
The surface is beautifully undulating, and well watered by 
the upper branches of Deep and Haw Rivers. The head 
springs of both these rivers are in the north-western part of 
the county. Over the whole central portion of the county, 
from the northern to the southern border, and covering 
perhaps two-thu'ds of the territory, the soil is a light sandy 
loam, interspersed in many places with more or less of clay 
soil, and in large sections on the southeastern and south- 
western borders the clay predominates. The sandy loam 
produces well for the first three or four years after clear- 
ing ; but then requires light manuring and judicious culti- 
vation to keep it up. The clay lands last longer and pro- 
duce better under hard usage, and are consequently con- 
sidered the more valuable. But manure and wise fore- 
thought are required here, as elsewhere, to keep the lands 
in good condition. The alluvial strips along the numerous 
little streams are naturally productive and lasting. 

In the old slavery days much of the finest farming land 
was worn out by careless and slovenly cultivation. Fresh 
fields were "cleared" every winter, and the worn lands 
' ' turned out, " hence the thousands of acres of old fields 
now growing over with broom sedge and young pines, and 
some of them washed in ugly gullies. But it has been ob- 
served that where the land was originally good, nature is 
gradually, kindly, surely restoring under the genial influ- 
ence of the growing pines, the fertility so recklessly ex- 
hausted. 

Take it altogether, there is no territory of the same extent 
in the Piedmontane portion of Virginia and the Carolinas, 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 339 

where the soil is more easily cultivated, or yields more 
satisfactory returns for the labor bestowed, and it only 
lacks the element of lime to make it equal to the best up- 
lands in the section named. 

Large bodies of original forests are interspersed over the 
county, where as fine oak and hickory grows as can be 
found anywhere. Valuable pine forests once grew in some 
sections, but the best trees have been used up for building 
purposes. 

The usual grain crops are raised here ; though not in 
quantities equal to the productions of the alluvial lands of 
the West, or of the highly cultivated farms of the North, yet 
in amount sufficient to be remunerative to the labor be- 
stowed. One fact should be borne in mind, as a wise ap- 
pointment of Providence, that if so great quantities of grain 
cannot be raised as in some other sections, the latitude and 
climate admit the successful production of a variety of the 
necessaries and comforts of life, such as no other latitude 
enjoys. Tobacco is raised here in highest perfection, with- 
in easy reach of four or five cash markets. Cotton can be 
successfully cultivated, and is growing in favor with the 
farmers as a profitable crop. Fruit is a specialty, and 
Guilford has some of the largest nurseries in the South. 
The grape grows nowhere better outside of Italy or Cali- 
fornia, but has hithei*to received almost no attention. Suf- 
ficient trial of the white mulberry has been made to show 
that silk-making would be a productive industry, peculiarly 
suited to the geographical situation. Meadows, set with 
native gTasses, are frequently set apart on the flat ravines 
along spring branches, requiring no care except regular 
mowing to get good crops of hay, and the cultivated grasses 
grow well on the uplands. 

Gold and copper mines were, some years ago, extensively 
wrought in the western part of the county, and enterprise 
in this direction is again reviving. 



340 COAL AND lEON COUNTIES 

The water power is valuable, some of the larger streams 
never failing" except in excessively dry seasons. There are 
thirty grist mills in the county, so situated as to be con- 
venient to every neighborhood. On Deep River there is a 
cotton factory producing over 1,300 lbs. daily of hosiery 
and coverlet yarns and plaid warps, A few miles below a 
woollen mill. And in the southeastern corner of the county 
a cotton factory has been recently erected. 

The assessed value of the land for taxation in 1880, ex- 
clusive of town lots was $1,837,988, Gruilford stand- 
ing fifth in this respect among the counties of the State. It 
occupies about the same comparative stand in population . 
The average assessed value per acre for taxation is $4. 58. 
The real average market value, at voluntary sale, may be 
put down at about $6 per acre. While there are some sec- 
tions of the county where lands would command $15 or 
$20, in other parts not more than $2 to $5 could be ob- 
tained. 

The white population of Guilford is chiefly made up of 
the descendants of emigrants commg from three principal 
sources in the old colonial days, to wit : Scotch-Irish, 
Presbyterians from Pennsylvania, Germans, (Lutheran and 
Reformed), from the Fatherland, and Quakers from Nan- 
tucket. There was besides a sprinkling of "all sorts," such 
as the restless pioneei* days afforded. The elements have 
all combined, intermarried, mixed up, fused into a social 
fabric which, for natural intelligence and steadiness of 
character, prudence and economy, with a strong spice of 
shrewdness, will compare with any community on the con- 
tinent. But, as it has been in other counties of the State, 
so it has been here : the sons of the immigrants soon began 
to be emigrants^ and large numbers in the flower of youth 
and manhood have annually " gone West." All the con- 
solation we have for their loss is the knowledge that they 
I re as leaven to society, wherever they go, worthy of the 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 341 

fathers left behind them. Notwithstanding- the continual 
loss by emigration, the census shows a steady and healthy 
increase in poi)ulation. 

As to the religious element : the Methodist Church was 
planted among the others at an early day ; and in all the 
• ' faith of the fathers " still has healthy influence upon the 
sons. 

In politics, — before the war the population was Whig by 
a very large majority. Now a considerable majority of the 
whites are conservative, acting with the Democratic party. 
Taking the whole body of the voting population, including 
the blacks, there is perhaps at present very little difference 
in numbere between the two political parties. 

The whole rate of taxation last year for State, county and 
school purposes was 66 2-3 cents on each $100 valuation of 
real and personal property, and $2 on each poll. 

The total population of the county, ascertained by the 
late census, was 23,585, of which number something over 
one-fourth was colored. An increase of 1,697 since 1870, 
the decade of war and reconstruction. 

These remarks about Guilford will apply in a general 
way to many surrounding counties in middle North Caro- 
lina. 

Greensroro. — Gruilf ord Court House (Martinsville), 
where the Revolutionary battle of 1781 was fought, was sit- 
uated fiv^e miles northwest of the present site of Greens- 
boro. The old village has entu'ely disappeared. 

Greensboro, the county seat of Guilford, was laid off and 
establislied in May, 1808, The population of the town and 
suburbs numbei's something over three thousand. There 
has been a steady increase of population and business ever 
since the war. The North Carolina Railroad runs through 
the town, and is intersected here by the Piedmont, which 
is a continuation of the Richmond and Danville Railroad. 
The Cape Fear and Yadkin Valley Railroad, from Fayette- 



342 COAL AND lEON COUNTIES 

ville to the upper valley of the Yadkin, is now in course of 
construction, crossing the North Carolina Railroad at this 
point. Thus there will soon be six railroad tracks con- 
centrating in Greensboro : one east, one south-east, one 
south-west, one west, one north-west, one north-east, — fur- 
nishing direct communication with all desirable points of 
trade, and making Greensboro the chief railroad centre of 
the State. 

A city charter was granted in 1870. The municipal gov- 
ernment is in the hands of a Mayor and six Commissioners. 
The streets are of good width and symmetrically laid off, 
most of them handsomely shaded with elms, and those 
most used are substantially paved. The main business 
streets are lighted with gas. The county court house is an 
imposing edifice, built in the Roman-Corinthian style, with 
iron cornices and tower. 

The Federal courts are held here twice a year — the Dis- 
trict Judge, Attorney and Marshal having their offices here. 
An appropriation of $50,000 has been made for the erection 
of a government building to accommodate the Federal 
court and the post-office. The building will be finished 
this summer. 

There are flvo churches for whites : Methodist, Presbyte- 
rian, Episcopal, Baptist, and Roman Catholic. Four for 
the colored people : Baptist, Presbyterian, African Metho- 
dist, and Northern Methodist. 

Two graded schools are in successful operation, one for 
the whites, the other for the blacks, kept in comfortable 
brick buildings expressly erected for the purpose, and 
chiefly supported by city taxation. 

On a commanding eminence at the western border of the 
town stands Greensboro Female College, established many 
years ago under Methodist auspices. The building is of 
brick, very spacious, and occupied by a large number of 
students. 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 343 

Bennett Seminary, a brick building, 50x80, four stories 
high, established by the liberality of a Northern gentleman, 
is devoted to the education of colored youth of both sexes. 
The following general details will give an idea of the busi- 
ness of the town : 

There are two spoke and handle factories, affording a 
market for large quantities of hickory and white oak tim- 
ber ; one of them w^ith an attachment for bending wheel 
rims. Handles for axes, picks, etc., are shipped from 
Greensboro to California and other States, and to Europe 
and Australia. 

Two foundries, in w^hich a variety of castings and agri- 
cultural implements are manufactured to order or kept in 
stock. Improved mill-gearing and turbine wheels are 
specialties in their work. 

Two steam saw-mills, a sash and blind factory, two 
tobacco factories, and two large tobacco warehouses ; three 
extensive hardware stores, wholesale and retail, three silver- 
smith shops, two saddle and harness shops, two marble 
yards, a bakery, two cabinet shops and two furniture stores 
with shops attached, several blacksmith and wagon shops, 
three or four shoemaker shops where custom work is done, 
a large tailoring and two millinery establishments, fourteen 
dry goods stores — three of them dealing largely by w^hole- 
sale as well as retail, eight grocery stores — three of which 
do wholesale as well as retail business, three drug stores, 
one book and stationery store, two livery stables and 
numerous smaller business establishments difficult to 
classify. 

A national bank with a capital of $100,000, a law school, 
a lodge of Freemasons, of Odd Fellows, of Knights oi 
Honor, and of Good Templars, four hotels, two daily and 
three weekly newspapers. 

It is remarkable that the region of Greensboro and the old 
courthouse has been a "strategic point" of momentous 



344 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 

import in two wars. It was the centre of a series of com- 
plicated military manoeuvres, for weeks, between Greene 
and Cornwallis in 1781, culminating in a battle which, m 
its results, turned the tide of war in favor of the patriots. 
And eighty-four years after, in 1865, the Confederate army 
under General Johnston, pui'sued from the east by General 
Sherman and cut off on the west by Federal troops, sur- 
rendered at Greensboro, — virtually ending the terrible war 
between the States. L. S. 



Rockingham County. 

Rockingham County was formed in 1785 from Guilford 
and was named in honor of Charles Watson Wentworth, 
Marquis of Rockingham. Wentworth, the County seat, is 
116 miles north-west of Raleigh. The County is located in 
the Piedmont section of the State, on the line of the Pied- 
mont Air Line Railway, which runs through the eastern 
portion of the County. There is also another railroad 
through the northern part of the County, connecting with 
the Piedmont Air Line at Danville. Its population in 1880 
was 21,744. Its area is 552 square miles. About one- third 
of the land is in cultivation, probably a little over one-third 
in original forest and the balance in old field which is being 
rapidly improved by old field pine. The forests abound in 
all the trees known in the State, such as oaks, walnuts, 
pines, hickories, chestnuts, locusts, poplars, ashes, gums, 
sycamores, willows, cedars, etc. There are a great many 
saw mills in the County, which do a fine business in lum- 
ber. The general character of the surface is broken, though 
gently undulating, being of easy cultivation, and along the 
streams there is a great deal of bottom land of dark rich 
alluvial soil upon which fine crops are raised without any 
manures or fertilizers whatever. The soil of the uplands is 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 345 

mostly of the light gray sandy sort, so admirably adapted 
for the raising of fine yellow tobacco, for which the county 
is noted, though in some portions the land is heavy and 
dark, suitable for raising large crops of wheat. All the land 
produces wheat, oats, clover and all the grasses, and in por- 
tions there are fine meadows of natural grass. 

Good farming land, (especially for fine tobacco) unim- 
proved, sells at from $3 to $5 per acre ; improved with 
houses, wells, barns, etc., sell at from $7 to $10, while river 
bottoms are held at from $20 to $50 per acre ; land rents 
readily at one-fourth for uplands, and one-third for bottoms. 
The usual yield per acre of tobacco is from 500 to 1,000 
pounds, according to whether the tobacco is fine or heavy 
and common ; fine yellow tobacco sells at from $30 to $40 
per hundred pounds around, (that is for lugs and all) while 
the heavy and common sells at from $3 to $10 per hundred. 
Farmers frequently realize as much as $150 to $250 for the 
tobacco from a single acre of land that they bought at $5. 
The bottom lands are usually devoted to corn, of which 
there is generally enough raised to supply the needs of the 
County and a good deal is exported to Danville, Va. Pota- 
toes, cabbages and all vegetables are raised in great abun- 
dance, as are also all the fruits, apples, peaches, plums, cher- 
ries, etc., coming to great perfection. 

The people find a most excellent market for the sale of all 
their products in the city of Danville, Va. , which is only 
about 25 or 30 miles from Wentworth and is easily reached 
by the farmers of the eastern and southern portions of the 
County by way of the R. & D. R. R., while those of the 
northern and western portions find easy access through the 
D- M. & S. W. R. R. The Dan River, running through 
the County to Danville, is also navigable for large boats its 
entire length through the County. 

The town of Reidsville, situated upon the R. & D. R, R., 
also affords a good market for all country produce and is 



346 COAL AKD IRON COUNTIES 

fast becoming the leading tobacco market of the State ; a few 
years since only a way station upon the railroad, with one 
house and a depot, now a town of over 2,000 inhabitants, 
with four of the largest warehouses for sale of leaf tobacco, 
numbers of tobacco factories, some domg the leading busi 
ness in plug tobacco in the State, stores of all kinds, schools, 
churches, etc. Its business men are alive to the interests of 
their town and are destined to make it one of the 
cities of the State. Leaksville, Madison, Stoneville, 
Went worth and Ruffin are all small towns with a popula- 
tion of from 200 to 500 inhabitants, that have good schools, 
stores, etc. , and afford good markets for those immediately 
around them. 

Rockingham is probably one of the best watered Coun- 
ties in the State ; the Dan running throuh the northern por- 
tion of the County, with its tributaries, the Smith and Mayo 
Rivers, with Wolf Island, Lickfork, Sauratown, Jacobs, 
Hogans, Buffalo, Matrimony and other numerous creeks, 
form a complete net- work of water courses . Each and all 
of these streams have most excellent water powers, suitable 
for the largest mills and factories. The Leaksville cotton 
mills, upon Smith River, has one of the finest water powers 
in the State, The southern part of the County is watered 
by the Haw River and its tributaries. Big and Little Trou- 
blesome Creeks. 

Coal is found in a great many places along the line of 
Dan River, and iron near Troublesome Creek, in the south- 
ern part of the County and other places. Good building 
rock abounds in many places. J. D. G. 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 347 



Person County, 



Roxboro, the County Seat, contains about 400 inhabi- 
tants, 5 stores, 2 hotels, 2 tobacco factories and 1 warehouse. 
It is central to the County, is 50 miles north of Raleigh, 30 
from Danville, 25 from Diu'ham, 28 from Oxford, and is 20 
miles from the Richmond and Danville Railroad. 

The principal streams are Hyco, Flat and Tar Rivers and 
their tributaries, and the lands on the first named are famed 
for their fertility. The principal productions are tobacco, 
corn, wheat, oats, rye, clover, potatoes, sweet and Irish, 
apples, peaches, cherries, grapes, berries, etc. The chief 
money crops are tobacco, wheat and corn, and the bright 
yellow tobacco is raised here to great perfection, perhaps as 
fine as any produced any where in the world. Wheat and 
clover of a fine quality are raised and there are a number of 
very superior grist mills in the county. The soil and clim- 
ate are well adapted to fruits of all kinds, and apples, 
peaches, pears, grapes, cherries and berries of the best qual- 
ities are produced in great abundance and variety. 

The minerals of the County have not attracted the atten- 
tion which they deserve, but their importance has lately 
awakened an interest among foreign capitalists. There are 
indications that very rich veins of copper and iron ores, of 
superior qualities, are found in a number of localities. Iron 
and copper will doubtless be yet mined to profit. Gold, 
graphite, kaolin and corundum are also found, good buildmg 
stone abounds and also the best clays for brick and pottery. 

Truck farming can be pursued to advantage and melons 
and all kinds of vegetables are procured in large quantities 
and of the finest varieties. There are no barren districts, 
very little land that it will not pay to cultivate, no malarial 
sections, and a comparatively small area that is subject to 
disastrous overflows. 



348 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 

The face of the country is rolUng, but Uttle broken by 
abrupt hills, never flat, but beautifully undulating, easy of 
culture and adapted to the highest improvements. The 
highest elevations are Haga's, about 1,000 feet, and Rox- 
boro Mountains, so-called, with scenery picturesque and 
beautiful, and interesting alike to the pleasure-seeking tour- 
ist and to the botanist and geologist. The air is salubrious, 
the water pure, the average duration of human life is long. 
There is no more healthy region on the globe, chills and 
fever being scarcely known. 

The price of the best lands is from $10 to $15, the aver- 
age probably about $5 ; the farms are generally of moderate 
size, the County being remarkable for the comparative 
equality of its industrial population. It is well suited to 
farmers of small means. There are no great inequalities in 
society. The masses are thrifty, intelligent and moral. 

The principal religious denominations are Methodists, 
Baptists, Primitive and Missionary, Christians, Presbyte- 
rians and Episcopalians ; and there are a number of good 
high schools, while the common system has always had 
here a vigorous root. 

Game and fish abound and more deer are found here than 
any where else in this region. There is no section better 
suited to fish culture, and the capabilities of the County for 
clover, for fruit, for fine tobacco, for a dense, thriving, 
healthy and happy agricultural population are not excelled 
any where in North Carolina. 

Perhaps the most distinguishable characteristic of the 
County is the absence of extreme inequalities in soil, in 
society, in the distribution of wealth. The face of the coun- 
try is every where diversified and pleasant. There is hardly 
a nook or corner in which a desirable building site may not 
be found. There is no want, no alternation of dense com- 
munities and of sparse and poor neighborhoods, and the 
population is eminently rural. The fine tobacco is of an 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 349 

extreme type, but its culture, like all other pursuits, does 
not require much capital, and the intelligent, industrious 
laborer can live and prosper by the work of his own hands. 

J. W. C. 



Orange County. 

Climate : This county is at an elevation of about 600 ft. 
above the sea. The climate is remarkably healthy and free 
from malaria. The winters are very mild and the summers 
are not oppressive. The county is rolling and is well 
drained by natural streams. 

Products : The products are corn, wheat, oats, cotton, 
rye, barley, grass, tobacco and potatoes. The soil is especi- 
ally adapted to the raising of fine grade tobacco, of wheat, 
of hay and potatoes. Cattle, horses, hogs, sheep and goats 
are easily raised and thrive here. 

Apples, pears, peaches, grapes, plums and figs grow in 
the greatest abundance and of fine quality. There is a 
large and growing industry in drying fruits, and in shipping 
them also fresh to the Northern markets. 

The country is capable of the highest development in the 
direction of stock raising and fruit growing and dairy 
farming and tobacco raising. Some of the lands have 
yielded crops of tobacco worth $250 to the acre. 

Soil : The soil is very strong and deep, mostly of decom- 
posed granite. The lands lying along the many streams 
that form a network throughout the county are of inex- 
haustible fertility. 

Minerals : Deposits of gold and iron ai'e very abundant 
all through the county. The Iron Mountain near Chapel 
Hill contains inexhaustible ores of excellent quality. 

Soapstone and whet-stone quarries of the finest grain 
exist in large deposits. Also unlimited supplies of granites. 



350 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 

Water-power : The county is well watered by scores of 
streams and rivers that furnish irrigation and drainage and 
a water power well nigh infinite. Neuse River, Eno, Flat 
and New Hope are especially valuable. 

Timbers and Forests : By far the larger portion of the 
county is covered by the primeval forests, furnishing im- 
mense and valuable stores of timbers. Oak, elm, hickory, 
maple, ash, poplar, gum, dogwood, sassafras and walnut 
grow in profuse abundance. 

Education : The county enjoys the best educational ad- 
vantages in the State. It contains, besides a fine public 
school system, the University of North Carolina and the 
Agricultural and Mechanical College, the Bingham High 
School for boys, and the Nash and Kollock School for girls. 
At Chapel Hill is published the State Educational Journal. 
Here also is located the State Normal School, and here the 
State Association of teachers meets annually. 

Popidation : The population is celebrated for its piety, 
industry and intelligence. All the religious denominations 
are represented. Only one- third of the population is negro. 
The population is rapidly increasing. 

Railroad Facilities. — The county is traversed by two 
railroads that carry its products in a few hours to tide- 
water at Richmond, Fayette ville, Wilmington or Norfolk. 
The rapidly growing cities of Raleigh, Durham and Greens- 
Ijoro, are at its doors. 

Chief Towns : The chief towns are Hillsborough, the 
County seat, one of the oldest in the State, and Chapel Hill, 
the seat of the University of the State. The University 
before ISHl had nearly five hundred students, and has now 
over two hundred, increasing constantly. K. P. B. 



OF NOETH CAROLINA. 851 



Durham County 



Adjoins Wake (in which is situated Raleigh, the capital of 
the State), Chatham, Orange, Person and Granville. Its 
county seat is Durham, twenty-six miles west of Ealeigh, 
and 55 miles east of Greensboro, situated on the N. C. R. R. 

The population of the county is 15,873, and of the county 
seat and its suburbs 4, 500. Area of county 280 square miles. 
Assessed value of taxable property in 1882, $2,923,748.00 ; 
number of horses and mules 1882, 2,038 ; hogs, 7,546 ; sheep, 
8,323 ; cattle, 2,161. Its waters are Flat, Eno, and Little 
Rivers, New Hope, Third Fork, Ellerby and several smaller 
creeks. 

Durham is now the centre of the famous ' ' Golden Belt " 
of North Carolina, the home of the fine, bright tobacco. 
The town of Durham is famed throughout the world for its 
great smoking tobacco manufactories, to which have now 
been added the manufacture of cigarettes, long cut smoking 
tobacco and fine cut chewing tobacco. In this town are lo- 
cated the factories of Blackwell's Durham Tobacco Company, 
who succeeded W. T. Blackwell & Co., the owners of the 
standard ' ' Bull " brand ; W. Duke, Sons & Co. , who are 
widely known by their " Duke of Durham " tobacco and 
cigarettes, besides many others. The United States Internal 
Revenue Tax paid by the various smoking tobacco factories 
in the year 1882, aggregated the sum of $733,817.80. In 
the town are five white and several colored churches, the 
spire of the Methodist being the highest in the State. There 
are many churches throughout the county. In the town is 
a graded school for whites with a membership of 400, 
besides several excellent private schools. There are 28 free 
public schools in the county for whites, and 21 for the col- 
ored. 

The principal productions of the county are, in the order 



352 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 

named, tobacco of fine, bright color ; cotton, corn, wheat, 
oats, hay and rye. Fruits of all kinds usual in this latitude 
abound, cherries, apples, peaches, plums, grapes, pears, figs, 
and nuts growing in abundance. All kinds of garden veget- 
ables and Irish and sweet potatoes, melons and turnips are 
produced in profusion. The usual yield of corn is from 
15 to 25 bushels per acre ; wheat, 10 ; cotton, 500 to 1,000 
pounds ; sweet potatoes 300 to 400 bushels ; Irish potatoes 
100 bushels. The soil is varied, from gravelly and sandy 
through clay to the black waxy land. The lands around 
the town are poor, but in the southern portion of the county 
are magnificent bottom lands ; in the northern part are the 
finest tobacco lands. The land is worth from $3 to $25 per 
acre. The tobacco raised in this county brings from $3, for 
the lowest grades, to $150 for the highest grades, and is 
highly esteemed and eagerly sought after. 

Our forests are filled with white, red, black, water, wil- 
low, post, Spanish and chestnut oak, pine, willow, silver and 
sugar maple, gum, hickory, persimmon, dogwood, sassafras, 
sycamore, holly, poplar, elm, ash, walnut, chinquepin, 
locust, haw, mulberry, cherry, plum, apple, sweet gum, 
beech, cedar, ironwood, alder and birch. 

In the town of Durham are two banks, and three leaf 
tobacco warehouses. The health of the county is excel- 
lent ; the water good, except around the town it is strongly 
impregnated with limestone. Winters mild, and summers 
temperate. W. W. F. 



OF NOETH CAROLINA. 353 



Chatham OoTinty 

Was named in honor of William Pitt (Lord Chatham) 
and the county seat Pittsboro. This county from the Ran- 
dolph line west to the Wake County line east, is about 40 
miles, and f rdm the Orange County line north to the Moore 
County south, is about 40 miles. It contains an immense 
amount of fine timber of oak and hickory, some walnut 
and dogwood, and in the southern portion of the county a 
vast forest of pine. The white and red oak, however, pre- 
dominates ; so much so as to have attracted the attention 
of the first settlers. And so abundant was the hickory that 
they named the western portion of the county Hickory 
Mountain. 

The chief streams passing through Chatham are the Sax- 
apaha and Sapona, which form a junction at Haywood; 
from thence to salt water it is known as the Cape Fear. 

Chatham County, situated in a high, healthy region, 
with a dark red clay soil, better adapted for raising wheat 
than any other, stands pre-eminent as a wheat country. 
The statistics show that she is the second largest wheat 
county in the State. It is within bounds to say that she 
contains 400 square miles of forest, principally oak, hick- 
ory and pine. Then she has the finest water power in 
the world; the Saxapaha and Sapona Rivers (Deep and 
Haw Rivers), forming the Cape Fear at their junction, pass 
through the entire county. Besides these streams there are 
Rocky River, Bear Creek, New Hope, Robeson's Creek and 
many othei*s having only a local reputation, but upon all 
of which splendid mills have been erected and make the 
finest flour in our markets. 

Chatham not only contains all the elements of wealth in 
these particulars, but she has some of the richest gas coal 
deposits on Deep River, as also hard coal or anthracite. 



354 COAL AND IRON COUNTIEis 

There are a good many shafts and slopes sunis:. Hx viie 
Wicker place there are 1800 acres of land ana almost tne 
entire property is underlaid with coal ; 100 pits were dug 
by Mr. McLain for a Northern company and coal found at 
every place. It is now owned by persons in ]North Carolina 
and valued at $100 an acre. Then not far up the river is 
the celebrated Egypt property, owned by a Northern com- 
pany. There they have sunk a shaft 400 feet and put up 
immense works for bringing the coal to the surface. The 
seam of coal measures 6^ feet. The next coal property is 
on Deep River on the Taylor place, 1500 acres, owned by a 
company of Northern men and some North Carolinians. 
Here a slope was put in and disclosed a seam of coal 6 feet. 
The next place above the Taylor coal field is the Gulf, 
owned by the Haughtons and sold by them for $30,000. 
Here is a fine specimen of coal ; there are several excava- 
tions and coal found in each place. Then comes the Evans 
place on the north side of the river above the Gulf. Here 
an immense deposit is found. Then the Wilcox place where 
both bituminous and anthracite coal is found. Then the 
Bingham property, 540 acres, above Evans. The coal on 
this property was found by deepening a well in the yard of 
the house, and a six foot vein of coal discovered. Then the 
Murchison property, adjoining the Bingham place, upon 
which I found a vein of 7 foot depth. Then the Chalmers' 
place, lying on the north side of Deep River, and adjoining 
the Murchison property, containing fine veins of coal. 
And directly across the river on the south side is the Fooshee 
place upon which a six foot vein of coal was discovered by 
a slope sunk. 

Now let us look at the iron ore in Chatham. Two places 
alone contain the finest ore in the known world. One is 
below Lockville, known as the Heck and Lobdell Mine, 
and has produced an immense amount of the finest ore ever 
seen in market. Specimens of the native ore were as bright 



OF NOHTH CAROLINA. 355 

as steel, and when smelted made tlie finest car wheels ever 
seen, equal to the best Bessemer steel. 

Then let me take you to the upper end of the county — 
Ore Hill, at the foot of which the Yadkin Valley Railroad 
passes from Fayette ville to Ore Knob, in Ashe County. On 
this Ore Hill immense deposits of the finest iron ore are found ; 
indeed, it is one solid mass of u'on ore, and has been worked 
successfully by a company for years ; the railroad (Yadkin 
Valley) does not yet reach that point, but will in a short 
time. Chatham contains all the elements of wealth for 
many generations in the single articles of coal and iron. 

The soil of Chatham is a deep red loam, and may be de- 
scribed as clayey. The population of Chatham is 24,000 ; 
voters about 4,000. Agricultural pursuits have chiefly en- 
gaged the people of the county, but within a few years past 
their attention has been directed to branches of manufac- 
ture. The Bynum factory on Haw River is a splendid 
specimen of factory work, and the numerous mills for cut- 
ting lumber and grinding grain are unsurpassed by any 
county in the State. It is also one of the finest tobacco 
counties in all the South. M. Q. W. 



Moore County 



Was formed from Cumberland County in 1784, and was 
named after tho Hon. Alfred Moore, one of the Justices of 
the Supreme Court of the United States. It is bounded on 
the north by Chatham, on the east by Harnett and Cum- 
berland, on the west by Montgomery and Randolph, on the 
south by Riclimond. 

Its population in 1880 was : Whites, 11,485; blacks. 
5,336; total, 16,821. Area 772 1-4 square miles. Valuation 
of real estate in 1883, $1,500,000. Personal estate, $150,000. 



356 COAL AND lEON COUNTIES 

Cartilage, tlie county seat, is 60 miles southwest from 
Kaleigli, and has a poi^ulation of 450. Two railroads 
traverse the county — the Raleigh & Augusta Air Line for 
43 miles, and the C. F. & Y. V. R. R. for 12 miles. The 
water power in the county, Deep River, Little River, 
Drow^ning Creek, McLendon's Creek, and Richland Creek, 
is very fine indeed. Timber is of the greatest abundance 
and variety, consisting of pine, oak, hickory, walnut, dog- 
wood, cypress, juniper . The amount of naval stores and 
lumber shipped from this county is in excess of that sent 
from any other county in the State. The pine forests are 
very extensive. 

The face of the country is sandy and level in the south 
and east and clayey and hilly in the west and north. The 
prmcipal products are cotton, corn, wheat, oats, rye and 
potatoes. Apples, peaches, pears and grapes grow in abun- 
dance. 

The minerals are gold, copper, iron, coal, soapstone, and 
the best millstone grit in the world ; all of which are in 
abundance. 

There are also several mineral sjirings in the county, 
Jackson Springs in west and Lemon Springs in east, noted 
for their medicinal properties. 

The agricultural interest of the county has very greatly 
improved within the past few years. 

The county was settled by the Scotch chiefly, which de- 
scent still prevails. 

Our county has perhaps improved as much or more in 
general intelligence and general appearance than any county 
in North Carolina. There are good academical schools, 
and the facilities for education and improvement good. 
There are three gold mines being worked in this county, 
and two carriage factories. Every thing in a prospemus 
condition. Mcl.& B. 



OP NORTH CAROLINA. 357 



Ricliniond County 

Was laid off in 1779, of that part of Anson which was east 
of the Pee Dee River. It is situated southwest of Raleigh, 
about 90 miles, and bounded north by Montgomery, east by 
Moore, Cumberland and Robeson, south by South Carolina 
and west by Anson. 

In the northern portion of the county it is undulating 
and even broken near Mountain Creek and other streams 
which flow through it. The soil is partly slate and partly 
red sandstone, in the section referred to, and the timber 
oak, hickory, short-leaf pine, maple, etc., with considerable 
long-leaf pine beyond Little River. It is not sandy, how- 
ever, as in some other parts, the soil being such as is usually 
found overlying the red sandstone. In this part much 
cotton as well as small grain is raised, and the quality is 
equal to any upland cotton produced in the country. The 
productions and quality of articles are much the same all 
along the river, near which there is much clay and some 
decomposed granite — the formation beuig generally the 
same as that to be found near Raleigh and in Franklin 
County and west of Raleigh, nearly as far as Chapel Hill. 

The central part of the county, except near the river and 
the creeks, is sandy, and was covered originally, and now is 
where the forests remain, with long leaf ed pine. It is natu- 
rally unproductive, but by heavy and judicious manuring, 
yields fair crops. It is well adapted to sweet potatoes. The 
staple of cotton is inferior. Indeed this is, I think, un- 
usual in the sandy soils of the eastern part of the State. In 
the broken sand hills it is not so good as in the flat lands of 
the lower part of the county. Land is cheap in this section, 
and can be had in any quantities from 50 cents to $2 per 
acre, depending upon improvements. There is no healthier 
reo-ion in the world. This belt comprises half the territo- 



358 COAL AND IKON COUNTIES 

rial extent of the county — say 350 square miles. The other 
half is divided about equally between section 1, as described, 
and the lower, or level part of the county. 

The lower part is generally quite level, and is sand forma- 
tion, with a clay substratum a few inches below the sur- 
face. Farms in that section are worth from $8 to $25 per 
acre, Crops are cotton, corn and oats. By the use of fer- 
tilizers and good cultivation the yield of cotton per acre 
runs from 1000 to 1500 pounds in the seed. It is healthy 
and the water pure, having an average temperature of 
about 65° Fahr. The wells in the centre and northern belt 
afford cooler water, none of it, however, being less than 
58*^, and but little so low as that. 

The Carolina Central Railroad passes through the county 
about 32 miles, and the Raleigh & Augusta, which connects 
at Hamlet, six miles below Rockingham, about 14 miles. 

Many of the streams which have their sources in the 
sand hills, afford good water power, because of the con- 
stancy and equability of their flow. However heavy the 
rains, the water sinks in the soil, and keeps up 
the supply, instead of running off as in the up country 
and producing floods. We have neither "feasts" nor 
' ' famines " in these streams ; and hence, when sufficient 
fall can be had, much power for machinery is within reach, 
and this has been and will be utilized. 

There are now in operation in the county five mills en- 
gaged in making cotton goods. All of them spin and two 
of them weave also. Besides these another is in process of 
construction, three miles northeast of Rockingham on 
Hitchcock's Creek, a bold stream, and never failing. The 
dam is of stone 22^ feet high. 

Malloy & Morgan's mill is in Gum Swamp (Little Pee Dee) 
two miles east of Laurel Hill station, C. C. Railway. It 
has about 1,000 spindles and makes warps only. 

Leak, Wall & McRae's mill is on Hitchcock's Creek, one 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 369 

mile southwest of Rockingham, and immediately on the line 
of the railroads. It has 1, 000 spindles, and makes warps 
only. 

Ledbetter's mill is five miles northeast of Rockingham on 
Hitchcock's Creek, has 1,000 spindles, and makes warps 
only. 

The Great Falls mill is just on the western outskirts 
of Rockingham, on Falling Creek. The head of water is 
forty feet. It has 4,100 spindles and 140 looms. It makes 
plain sheetings, 7, 000 yards daily. 

The Pee Dee mill is on Hitchcock's Creek, just outside 
of the town. The head water is 18 feet. It has 4,000 spin- 
dles and 120 looms, with 18 more ordered and 12 more in 
contemplation. It makes plaids, 5,000 yards daily. 

The new mill, before alluded to, will, when complete, 
have 6,000 spindles and 200 looms, and make sheetings. Its 
productive capacity will be about 10,000 yards daily. It 
will commence operations in November with 3,000 spindles 
and 100 looms. 

On Hitchcock's Creek, three and a half miles west of 
Rockingham, and one and a half miles from the Pee Dee, 
Robert S. Ledbetter has a grist mill and cotton gin. This 
is a splendid site for a cotton mill, being on the line of the 
railroad. A head of water of 12 feet can be had, which 
will afford ample power for 5,000 spindles and 160 looms. 
Leak, Wall & McRae have water power sufficient for 
3 to 4,000 spindles and 100 looms. The same is the case with 
the mill of T. B. and J. S. Ledbetter. 

Besides these mills, sites for other small ones, from 1, 000 
to 4,000 spindles, can be had, on Naked and Mark's Creek, 
as well as Joe's Creek. And at the Grassy Islands, 12 miles 
northwest of Rockingham, power can be ha'd for 20,000 
spindles. These are on the Pee Dee. Other sites on the 
river can also be had. The only trouble would be that the 
locations might be unhealthy. 



360 COAIi AND lEON COUNTIES 

There are over 100,000 acres of laud in the county well 
studded with long leafed pine, a large part of which, how- 
ever, has been subjected to turpentine operations. Besides 
this timber there is a large quantity of persimmon, which 
would make the best of shuttles and bobbins. We have 
also quite a quantity of dogwood, which is unsurpassed for 
this purpose. Then our sandhill swamps contain excellent 
poplar, and quite a quantity of the trees familiarly called 
juniper. 

A good deal of the water in the upper end of the county, 
where the formation is red sandstone, is somewhat brack- 
ish, as is usually the case in this formation. Farms are 
worth from $5 to $20 per acre. 

The population of the county is now quite 20,000, of 
whom about 9,000 are whites. In religious views they are 
nearly all Baptists, Methodists and Presbyterians, and, in 
numbers, probably in the order named, though there is no 
great difference in the first two denominations. 

Most fruits succeed well. Owing to climatic causes, 
apples of the later variety are not suited. We can raise as 
fine peaches, pears and grapes as any one need to want, 
and on a high range of hills between Mountain and Buffalo 
Creeks, in the northern part of the county, the peach crop 
does not fail one year in ten . The same can be said of a 
high range near the Grassy Islands. These locations are 
rather remote from the railroads for profit in fruit raising. 

According to the census returns, the cotton crop of the 
county is about 12,000 bales. The cotton mills consume 
about 5,000 of them, and when the Roberdell is completed 
the consumption will be fully 7,500 bales. 

The construction shops of the C. C. Railway are located 
at Laurinburg, 22i miles southeast of Rockingham. This is a 
flourishing town of about 1200 inhabitants. Rockingham 
has about the same population. W. L. S. 



OF NOETH CAROLINA. 361 



Cumberland CoTinty. 

This is the centre of the Southern Counties of the State, 
being equidistant from the ocean on the east and the 
State line on the west, and from Raleigh, the capital, on the 
north and the South Carolina line on the south. The 35"^ 
parallel of latitude passes through the Coujity — average 
width from east to west is 40 miles — from north to south 25 
miles, Total number of acres 640,000; acres of arable land 
65,000; white population (census 1880,) 12,594; colored pop- 
ulation (census 1880,) 11,242; total, 23,836. 

Character of People. — The County was settled by Scotch 
Highlanders in 1746-7. Their descendants constitute prob- 
ably about three-fourths of the white population. There is 
no more law-loving and law-abiding people on the face of 
the earth. They have been liberal friends of education and 
churches. Schools, public or private, and churches of differ- 
ent denominations are found in all parts of the County. 
The people are noted foiv their intelligence, thrift and gen- 
erous hospitality. 

Toivns. — Fayetteville, the County Seat, has a population 
of 5,000 and is the only town of importance. It has an ex- 
tensive trade in naval stores and cotton. It was once quite 
a manufacturing centre but the factories were burned by 
order of Gen. Sherman in 1865. Some of these cotton 
factories are now being rebuilt and the magnificent water 
powers here will probably soon be utilized. Fayetteville is 
at the head of navigation of Cape Fear River, 108 miles 
from Wilmington. There are daily lines of steamers. It 
has railroad communications north and south by the Cape 
Fear and Yadkin Valley Railroad. There are sev- 
eral villages in the County ; among others, Rockfish, Beaver 
Creek and Manchester, the sites of large cotton factories. 

Water Courses and Water Powers. — Cumberland is one 



362 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 

of the best watered Counties in the State. The Cape Fear 
River runs in a southerly direction for 40 miles through the 
County dividing it in territory, population and wealth into 
two-thirds on the west side and one-third on the east. This 
river is navigable to Fayetteville. During high water in 
winter and spring steamers make occasional trips to Averas- 
boro, in Harnett County, 25 miles north of Fayetteville. 

Black River, a considerable stream, forms the eastern 
boundary of the County for forty miles. Although it is not 
navigable for steamers it furnishes a cheap and convenient 
means for transporting timber and naval stores to Wilming- 
ton market. Rockfish and Lower Little River have their 
origin in the sand hills, 40 miles west of the Cape Fear, and 
flow eastward to their junctions with the same, 25 miles 
apart. These streams drain a large territory, carrying 
heavy volumes of water with an average fall of 12 feet per 
mile. They are fed by perpetual springs and in severe 
drought furnish an abundance of water— they are magnifi- 
cent water powers. Into these streams many smaller creeks 
from 4 to 10 miles in length, flow both from north and soutli. 
As they have greater fall per mile, are less expensive to 
dam and furnish an unfailing supply of water, they are gen- 
erally preferred for mill sites. Besides these water courses 
there are several creeks emptying into the Cape Fear from 
east and west, between Little River and Rock Fish, which 
furnish very valuable water powers. Grist and saw mills 
are abundant. I know of no farm in the County that is 5 
miles from either. Good drinking water in natural springs 
or wells is found in all parts of the County — even in the 
ditches that drain the large swamps, many springs of deli- 
cious, cold, clear, free stone water are found. There are 
several springs of mineral water, chalybeates, which are 
much esteemed for their healing qualities. 

Forests and Timbers. — Cumberland has an immense for- 
est of very valuable timbers. All kinds of trees that are indig- 



OF NOETH CAROLINA. 363 

enous to this section are found in abundance and perfec- 
tion, except walnut, of which little is left. The most valu- 
able are the long straw or yellow pine, the short straw pine, 
oaks of many varieties, cypress, juniper, poplar, hickory, 
ash, gum, maple and many others of less value. Forestry 
Bulletin, No. 8, from U. S. Census OflB.ce gives amount of 
merchantable pine in the County as 806,000.000 feet. 

Soils. — The surface of our lands is sufficiently undulating 
to admit of easy drainage, but not rolling enough to wash 
badly. Hill-side ditching is not practiced because there is lit- 
tle necessity for it. No County in North Carolina has greater 
diversity of soils. This causes it to be peculiarly adapted to 
small farms. It is very rare to find a farm of fifty acres 
without three or four varieties of soils, each adapted to some 
of the crops gi'own here. The kinds most esteemed are the 
black swamp, the clay loam, the clay lands on rivers and 
creeks and the sandy loams with clay sub-soil. The latter, 
though not as productive at first as the others, are growing 
in favor as they require no di-ainage and crops on them 
rarely suffer from the extremes of the weather. All crops 
grown in the temperate zone grow here in perfection. Those 
principally relied on are corn, cotton, all the small grains, 
peas, rice, sorghum, potatoes, chufas and grass. Agricul- 
ture is making rapid progress and the farming element is 
generally prosperous. 

Fruits. — Fruits of all kinds gi'ow in great perfection. 
Especially is this true of grapes and peaches. Orchards and 
vineyards are regarded as a necessary part of every well- 
regulated farm ; few are without them. There are several 
extensive vineyards in the County ; the largest of these is 
Tokay, with 125 acres in grapes, and an average yield of 
25,000 gallons of wine, besides quantities of grapes shipped 
to northern cities, beginning generally first week in 
July. 

Manufactories. — There are six cotton factories in the 



364 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 

County engaged in making yarns and cloth. The business 
is profitable. 

Railroads. — The only railroad in operation is the Cape 
Fear and Yadkin Valley Railroad, which is completed to 
the Gulf in Chatham County. This road is graded to 
Greensboro and from Fayette ville to Shoe Heel, and the 
track is now being laid on both ends. It is under contract 
to be completed from Greensboro to Bennettsville, in South 
Carolina, in one year's time. There are several other roads 
now projected that will pass through the County, and there 
is every reason to believe that Fayettevilie will be an im- 
portant railroad centre at an early day. 

Turpentine. — The principal production of the County is 
naval stores . It is probably the largest producer of turpen- 
tine of any one County in the United States. Great quan- 
tities of lumber and ton timber are annually shipped. 

Value of Lands. — Farming lands are worth from $5 to 
$20 per acre, according to character and location. Turpen- 
tine lands from $2 to $5. Lands are rarely sold for cash — 
usually a small part is paid in cash and reasonable time 
given on balance . 

Taken all in all, it is one of the best Counties in the State 
and the people will welcome any one who will come here to 
make an honest livelihood. J. E. 



Harnett County 



Lies in Middle North Carolina, and was formed from the 
Northern portion of Cumberland County. 

It is bounded on the North by Wake and Chatham, on the 
East by Johnston and Sampson, on the South by Cumber- 
land, and on the West by Moore. 

Its county seat is Lillington, situated on the west bank of 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 365 

the Cape Fear River. It embraces an area of 550 square 
miles, some 43,000 acres of which is under cultivation. Its 
population in 1880 was 10,862 ; though it can easily support 
double that population. 

Its People. — The inhabitants are for the most part of 
Scottish origin, the names of McDonald, Stewart, Shaw, 
Campbell, McLean, McNeill, McLeod, McKay, &c., being 
still prominently associated with the history of the county. 
While there are few men of great prommence in any par- 
ticular sphere in the countj^^, still the people, as a class, are 
singularly intelligent, thriving and industrious, unassum- 
ing in their manners, yet markedly generous and hospitable 
in their dealings with each other and towards new 
comers. 

Its Lands. — Within its bounds almost every variety of 
soil is found, ranging from the fertile bottom lands on the 
Cape Fear River to the sandy loams of the pine forests. 
The soil seems naturally to be divided into three great divi- 
sions, viz. , those lands lying on either side of the Cape 
Fear, which, though watered by the same stream, are ma- 
terially different, and that body of pine land in the western 
part of the county commonly known as the Sand Hills. 

Commencing at Lower Little River, the dividing line be- 
tween Cumberland and Harnett, and running thence from 
the confluence of the above stream with the Cape Fear 
along the western banks of the latter stream, there is a 
large tract of very fertile bottom-lands, varying from one to 
three miles in breadth, extending eight miles up this river 
to McNeill's Ferry. From this point up the river, the land 
corresponding to the above variety of soil is found lying on 
either side of the river. This body of land lying between 
the Upper and Lower Little Rivers is enclosed by one fence, 
established by the General Assembly of 1881 under the 
"Stock Law Act." This fence connects the two rivers 
alluded to above, the other boundaries to this section of 



366 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 

country being Upper Little River on the North, Cape 
Fear River on the East, and Lower Little River on the 
South. 

These lands are being thoroughly drained, and even now 
they are not excelled in productiveness by any in the State. 
The staple products are corn, cotton and small grain. From 
750 to 2,800 lbs. of seed cotton are produced per acre accord- 
ing to the mode of cultivation employed. 

The yield for corn is from 10 to 50 bushels per acre, and 
no better land can be found in the State for the production 
of wheat and oats. From recent experiments it has also 
been proved that tobacco of fine grade can be profitably 
grown here. About 7,000 acres of this section are opened 
for cultivation, the remainder being heavily timbered wood- 
land, consisting principally of w^hite oak, red oak, pojilar, 
sweet gam, ash and hickory. The character of the soil is 
a gray-colored, sandy loam based upon a stiff red clay sub- 
soil. These lands are susceptible of a very high state of 
cultivation, and some of them, after one hundred years of 
cultivation, seem not yet even to have lost their virgin 
fertility. They are now owned in large tracts, and can be 
bought in smaller lots at prices ranging from $6. 00 to $12.00 
per acre according to the state of improvement. 

On the Eastern side of the Cape Fear the bottom lands 
are not so wide, and are principally under cultivation. 
These lands like those on the opposite side of the river are 
not subject to overflow even during the highest freshets. 
Adjoining these river bottoms are wider tracts of pine table 
lands, once considered not very productive, but now under 
skillful management and with improved methods of farm- 
ing, have developed into fine farming lands, which extend 
as high as the Wake County boundary, where the lands be- 
come more undulating. Being level and well supplied with 
water courses, these lands have been found susceptible of 
easy cultivation, and, all things considered, equally pro- 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 367 

ductive and quite as varied in their products as the river 
lands. 

A large portion of this section is still in its native state, 
but annually larger bodies are being brought under cultiva- 
tion, and now some of the best and most prosperous farmers 
in the county are extensively cultivating these lands. They 
can be purchased in small tracts at from $2.00 to $5.00 per 
acre. 

In the western portion of the county there is still another 
body of land known as the Sand Hills, which is rather 
spai-sely settled, except those portions bordering on Upper 
Little River. These sand-hill lands, in my judgment, are 
not surpassed as a grazing country, especially for sheep 
grazing, by any in the State. This section is composed of 
rather undulating ground, with vast meadow-lands inter- 
vening, which are covered with a luxuriant growth of 
native grass, and which are watered by many small streams 
whose banks are studded with reeds and perennial grasses, 
making this one of the finest of ranges for cattle, sheep, 
&c. , and rendering it especially adapted for stock raising of 
all kinds. From extensive travel in the Southern States, I 
may well say that I have never seen, in any of them, a sec- 
tion which would excel this for gi'azing purposes. 

This land, though so bountifully endowed by nature for 
these purposes, can be bought, owing to the fact that it 
is now owned in such large tracts, at very moderate 
prices, varying from 50 cents to $2.00 per acre. 

Principal Water Courses. — This county is unusually 
well drained and well watered. The Cape Fear is the 
largest river in the county, running through its centre from 
North-west to South-east. It is the largest water power in 
the State, and at Smiley's Falls, the base of which is at 
Averasboro Ferry in the lower part of the county, the 
natui'al situation is especially adapted for the purposes of 
machinery, the volume of water here being estimated as 



368 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 

sufficient, if utilized, to run all the machinery of the 
Northern manufactories. Just below these falls there is a 
point, owing to the natural situation of an island in the 
river, at which a bridge could be built cheaper probably 
than at any other point on the river. A bridge thus con- 
structed would bring into direct communication the most 
fertile farming lands of upper Cumberland and Harnett, 
and should the contemplated railroad from Wilson to 
Florence be built, the present location of which is about 
three miles distant from this point, this section of country, 
by means of this bridge, would contribute no less than 
3,000 bales of cotton besides other products for exporta- 
tion. 

Lower Little River is the dividing line westward between 
Cumberland and Harnett. It is a never-failing stream, 
the water being perfectly pure, and having as its source the 
springs far up in the sand-hills. No stream of its size is 
superior to it as a water power, and for five miles of its 
course it runs through the famous cotton belt of lower Har- 
nett. It has an average of 60 ft. in breadth with perpen- 
dicular banks 20 to 30 ft. in height, its fall averaging 12i ft. 
to the mile. Within the limits of this county there are, on 
this stream, three grist, one flouring and two saw mills and 
two cotton gins now in operation. A better site for a cotton 
manufactory could not well be found than this stream and 
the surrounding country offer. 

About the centre of the county there is another stream 
but little inferior in water resources to the above, known as 
Upper Little River. The best locations for mills on this 
stream are probably near its confluence with the Cape Fear, 
though there are three other mills on it west of Lillington. 

Black River, famous for its abundant supply of fresh 
water fish of all kinds, is about five miles from the Cape 
Fear, and runs parallel to it through the vast pine belt east 
of that river. 



OF ISrOETH CAEOLINA. 369 

Besides these, there are numerous other smaller mill 
streams of varying volume in different parts of the county. 

Products. — All the crops common to the South are pro- 
duced in this county, cotton bemg, however, at present, the 
staple product. Vegetables, fruits of all kinds, etc. , can be 
gi'own here as early and as well as in any section of the 
State short of the coast. Some portions of the county are 
especially adapted to grape culture, particularly the Scup- 
pernong and the common varieties of bunch grapes. It 
has been proved by successful experiments that silk culture 
can be carried on profitably and at small cost. 

Its Capacities. — This county, as a whole, is not yet fully 
developed, though in certain sections, such as those lying 
along the Lower Little River and Cape Fear, and in the 
Eastern part of the county, the farming interests have been 
very materially advanced, and the lands now show a high 
grade of cultivation and improvement. Those lands, which 
have not as yet received a like amount of attention as these, 
could very easily, on account of the diversified character of 
the soil, be brought to a state of cultivation which would 
well repay the small outlay of money needed to bring about 
this desirable end. In the Eastern and Western portions 
of this county there are still large bodies of pine forests un- 
touched, besides other varieties and species of trees that are 
valuable in any market in the world. The timber interest 
is one of the greatest of the county's resources, and is rapidly 
growing in magnitude. Those who do not desire to pur- 
chase lands at once can rent them, either wild or improved, 
on very favorable and advantageous terms. 

The most probable cause of this county's delay in the on- 
ward march of progress is perhaps its poor means of trans- 
portation for its abundant products, as well as its very limi 
ted railway system. The only railroad which runs through 
the county is the Cape Fear and Yadkin Valley, which runs 
along its Western border through the grazing section of 



870 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 

which I spoke above. Should some of the projected roads, 
the Wilson and Florence, for instance, either run through 
the county or build a branch road, crossing the Cape Fear 
at Smiley's Falls, it would develop beyond measure the re- 
sources of the county and bring into market some of the 
most valuble land in middle Carolina. The geographical 
situation of the county is such that at no distant day there 
must and will be direct railroad communication between 
this and her sister counties. The i^rincipal markets now for 
the produce raised are Fayetteville, Raleigh and Smithfield, 
all being about equally distant from Lillington, the county 
seat. From the above topographical description of the 
county, the salubrity of the climate can well be judged. 
Except in a very few of the bottom lands, the healthful- 
ness of this section is not surpassed in our State. 

The school advantages are good, there being numerous 
first-class schools now in successful operation in different 
parts of the county. The Christian denommations are all 
represented, and all have commodious houses of worship 
in different localities. Stores and small villages dot every 
part of our land, while the social privileges and advantages 
are of the very highest order. 

The system of county government is good ; taxes are 
lower than in many of the adjoining counties, and property 
has advanced at least 50 per cent, in the last several years ; 
in short, the capacities of this county are unbounded, and 
as yet but very inadequately developed, awaiting only 
greater railroad facilities and larger capital to make it rank 
equal with any other county in our State. J. P. H. 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 371 



Johnston County 

Was formed from Craven in the year 1746, and was named 
in honor of Gabriel Johnston, at that time and for twenty 
years Eoyal Governor of the province and who died in 
1752. 

It is situated in a central part of the state, from north to 
south, and is about on the dividing line between the flat 
lands of the coast and the more elevated rockj' lands of 
middle and western North Carolina. It is bounded on the 
north by Wake and Nash, on the east by Wilson and 
Wayne, on the south by Sampson, and on the west by Har- 
nett and Wake, and is divided into twelve townships, with 
thirteen voting precincts. 

It has an area of 670 square miles or 428,800 acres, a 
large proportion of which is uncleared ; it has a diversity 
of soils, but principally three kinds, located about as follows : 
southwestern portion, a light sandy loam ; in the western 
and northern, red and gravelly ; and in the centre and east- 
ern stiff, dark gray soil, with a red clay subsoil. It will be 
seen by this that taken as a whole, the county is capable of 
producing almost any crop necessary for the sustenance and 
comfort of man and beast. Large yields of wheat, oats, rye, 
peas, corn, millet, chufas and sweet potatoes are reported 
every year ; apples, peaches, plums, and grapes, especially 
the scuppemong grow luxuriantly. Experience has shown 
also that clover, timothy and other grasses may be culti- 
vated profitably in our soil ; and hence, that sheep hus- 
bandry can be made and no doubt will be a paying business 
in the county. Some experiments have been made in this 
branch of industry, and with satisfactory results. 

The soil in the southwestern portions of the county is 
well adapted to truck gardening. Cabbages, turnips, gar- 
den peas, beans, Irish potatoes, and melons of all kinds do 



872 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 

well in any part of the county. The culture of cotton is a 
l^rofitable business which is shown by the increase of area 
devoted to that crop every year. Twenty years ago there 
were only about one thousand bales of cotton 400 pounds 
each, produced in the county, while the crop of 1881 and 
1882 is estimated at twenty tliousand hales. Johnston is set 
down as the fifth largest cotton producing county in the 
State, and there is no doubt it has some of the finest cotton 
lands to be found any where between the coast and the 
mountains. 

Neuse River about equally divides the county, passing 
through it from northwest to southeast, the bottom lands 
of which produce astonishing quantities of corn and oats. 
The channel of the river under the supervision of General 
Robert Ransom, by an appropriation of Congress is being 
cleaned out and deepened and the work is completed to 
within about 10 miles of Smithfield, the capital of the 
county. There is in this river about eight miles above 
Smithfield, and some two miles from the North Carolina 
Railroad, a very fine water power, awaiting capital and 
energy to develop and utilize. Along the banks of the 
Neuse are large forests of the different species of oak, meas- 
uring many of them, several feet in diameter, with long 
straight trunks, which are not only valuable for the fine 
quality of the tunber, but which are prized for the fabulous 
quantities of acorns they bear upon which hogs thrive well, 
with no other kmd of food ; and large quantities of pork are 
slaughtered every year from the marshes, with little or no 
cost to the producers ; hickory, elm and ash are also abun- 
dant. There are also large forests of pine. 

Johnston is well opened up with public roads, usually 
kept in good order. Our territory is well watered and our 
streams are well bridged. We have also excellent mail ser- 
vice. The North Carolina Railroad passes through the 
centre of the county, on the line of which are Clayton, 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 373 

Wilson Mills, Selma, Pine Level and Princeton, all thriv- 
ing towns. We have also the Midland Raih'oad from 
Goidsboro to Smithfield, the terminus of which is within 30 
steps of the finest Court House in the State, and within 4 
miles of the North Carolina Eailroad. This Midland road 
is connected at Goidsboro with the Atlantic road leading to 
Kinston, Newbern and Morehead City, and also the Wil- 
mington and Weldon Eoad. We have also every prospect 
of a railroad from Wilson, North Carolina, through this 
county, via Smithfield to Fayetteville, thence to Florence ; 
when this road is completed the county will be bisected 
both ways with railroads, and will be well supplied with 
the means of traffic and pleasure. 

About four miles west of Smithfield there is an iron 
mine containing ore said to be rich in quality and which 
w^as discovered about one hundred years ago, and which, 
w^ith modern apparatus for mining and smelting, might be 
worked with profit. Copperas was made too at Benton- 
ville during the late war in quantities sufficient to be re- 
inuiierative. 

Smithfield, the county seat of Johnston, is eligibly situ- 
ated on the north bank of the Neuse, four miles from the 
N. C. railroad, equidistant from Raleigh and Goidsboro, 
twenty-five miles from each, and is about the centre of the 
county. It is beautifully laid out, well shaded, healthy, 
and contains a population of about six hundred. 

The population of the county by the last census was over 
tw^enty-three thousand, about one-third of whom are 
colored. In the county poorhouse are only eleven paupers 
and only one person in jail, and he a crazy man. Our 
people are industrious, provident and peaceable. The 
county has a very small debt. The cause of educa- 
tion here is also looking up. School houses are being 
erected with an eye to comfort and convenience, the 
grade of teachers is being improved, and a spirit of 



374 COAL AND IKON COUNTIES 

education is taking hold of the people, and very soon we 
shall see our territory thickly dotted with beautiful acade- 
mies, occupied by eai^nest students and competent teachers. 
Several religious denominations are represented in the 
county, having comfortable church buildings, regular 
preaching and large audiences : and everything considered 
Johnston County, for its healthful climate, good water, 
variety of soils, fine timber, unfailing streams, railroad 
facilities and peaceable, industrious, independent citizens, 
is in advance of a majority of the counties of the State 
and will compare favorably with the best. M. Q. W. 



Wake County. 



Wake, one of the old colonial counties, was established in 
1770, and chartered by the King in 1771. It was named in 
honor of the Wake family, of which the Archbishop of 
Canterbury, Dr. Wake, was the head, and with which 
family the Royal Governor Tryon had intermarried. It is 
situated on both sides of the Neuse, and was erected out of 
parts of Orange, Johnston and Cumberland. It has. an 
area of 787 square miles, and contains 47,000 inhabitants. 
(1883). Raleigh, the capital, and suburbs has a population 
of 14,000, and is situated in lat. 35^ 47 min. 

Soils are of all grades, from light gray to dark brown ; 
both easily tilled and quite productive. The upper part of 
the county is rocky and broken, while quartz and soapstone 
predominate. Gold and garnet are found in all the branches 
of the upper Neuse, but not in sufficient quantities to work 
profitably. Soapstone in large beds is to be found in Oak 
Grove and Barton's Creek Townships ; plumbago in inex- 
haustible quantities in House's Creek Township ; sandstone 
in White Oak, and granite in St. Mary's and Raleigh 



OF NOKTH CAKOLINA. 375 

Townships. All parts of the county are well adapted to 
the caltivation of peaches, apples, pears and other fruits, 
corn, wheat, oats, cotton, tobacco and potatoes. Oak, 
hickory, pine and walnut prevail as timber trees. The 
valuable long leaf pine forests cover nearly one-third of the 
area of the county, principally in the south and south- 
western portions. R. B. H. 

Wake County is centrally located between the moun- 
tains and the sea, and is traversed by numerous bold and 
living streams, shedding their waters to the southeast. 
Chief among these are Neuse and Little Rivers, Crabtree, 
Svv^ift, Middle, White Oak, Buckhorn, Walnut, Marsh, 
Buffalo, Big Lick, Moccasin and Mark's Creeks, on which 
are situated upwards of seventy (70) mills and manufac- 
tories. The surface is rolling and hilly, descendmg to the 
southeast to meet and blend Avith the prehistoric seacoast 
of the adjoining counties. 

The soil is composed largely of clay, red brown and yel- 
low, interspersed and underlaid with calcareous stone, sand 
and mica. The principal crops are cotton, corn, wdieat, 
oats, tobacco, peas, hay, sweet and Irish potatoes, peanuts, 
millet, etc. Apples, pears, peaches, figs, grapes, and smaller 
fruits and vegetables are grown. Nothing can excel the 
luscious beauty and flavor of the grape and its vinous 
product as grown upon the calcareous soil of Thomas- 
berg vineyards, two miles east of Raleigh. No disease 
or insect affects vine or fruit, and a failure of crop is un- 
known. 

The soil of the bottom lands varies from pipe clay to rich 
loam and sands, easy of cultivation and more productive 
than that of the hills. These are, pre-eminently, the corn 
lands of the county. 

Wake County has thirty-six (36) post offices, three (3) 
colleges, two seminaries for boys and two for girls, eight 
private schools, and one hmidred and tw^enty-four public 



376 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 

free schools, the latter including the public free graded 
schools of Raleigh, 

Raleigh, the county seat, was chartered and declared the 
seat of State Government in 1791. The city stands upon a 
group of hills, shedding naturally in all directions from the 
centre, at an elevation of 365 feet above tide water, and is 
one of the most healthful cities of the State. It is increas- 
ing rapidly in wealth and numbers. 75,000 bales of cotton 
were handled here in 1881-2. Her broad streets, beautiful 
residences, imposing public buildings and overarching elms 
constitute, for at least three-fourths of the year, one of the 
finest cities of the South. 

Other prosperous towns are Morrisville, Carey, Forest- 
ville, Rolesville, Wake Forest and Holly Springs. 

Railroads traverse the county at right angles, and new 
roads are projected and building. Farm lands range in 
value from $5 to $20 per acre, according to soil, improve- 
ment and location. Labor is plentiful at $8 to $10 per 
month and board. Thoroughbred Jersey cattle have been 
largely introduced during the last ten years with great 
benefit and satisfaction. Sheep are self-supporting, free 
from disease, productive and — evanescent. A pack 
of stray curs can lay out a hundred an hour without ex- 
pense to the owner, and generally manage to do it once a 
year. A. W. S. 



Grranville OoTinty. 

Was formed in 1746 and was so called from the name 
of the owner of the soil. In 1663 Charles II. 
granted to Sir Geo. Carteret and seven other noblemen a 
charter for this region with much more, and it was called 
Carolina for the kingf. In 1729 these proprietors, except Su' 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 877 

Greo. Carteret, who was afterwards created Earl of 
Granville, surrendered their franchises to the English 
Crown. 

This county lies north of the centre of the State adjoin- 
ing Virginia. Oxford, its county seat, is the terminus of 
the Oxford and Henderson Railroad, and is remarkable for 
its intelligent population. 

The soil is of two kinds (1) red heavy soil, (2) light sandy 
land. The former lies mostly in the northern and nortli- 
western parts of the county, the latter is in the southern 
portion. The former is productive of wheat, oats, rye, the 
grasses, corn, red heavy tobacco, and cotton ; often pro- 
ducing without stimulus 20 bushels of wheat to the acre. 
Upon the latter soil is grown the celebrated Granville bright 
yellow or gold-leaf tobacco, that sometimes sells for one 
dollar a pound, and, after analysis by the great chemist 
Bunsen and others, is pronounced devoid of nicotine. 
Lands in this section have advanced 100 percent, in the past 
ten years. A farmer raises 600 to 800 pounds of this fine 
tobacco to the acre and hauls to market in one wagon drawn 
Ijy two horses enough of the weed to net him six hundred 
dollars. 

The county is undulating, in some parts hilly ; and in 
these regions, which are mostly northern, are found 
splendid lands for pasturage. To the superior combination 
of grasses in northern Granville is attributed the inimita- 
bly fine flavor of the mutton, said to be the finest in the 
world. 

Here also are found mines of gold, iron, whetstone, cop- 
per and granite in great quantities. These mines are not 
yet developed, except the Gillis copper mine, which is pro- 
nounced by Prof. Emmons, formerly the State geologist, to 
be of great extent and excellent quality. Before the war 
the Lewis gold mine was worked with profit. 

The cost of living in Granville is very little. Board from 



378 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 

$8 to $12 a month ; chickens, 12 to 25 cents ; fresh pork, $7 
to $10 ; meal, 60 cents to $1.00 per bushel. 

The air is fresh and invigorating, the drinking water 
pure and healthful, the climate salubrious. No standing 
water except in a few mill ponds, and hence no malaria. 
The Tar River flows through the county, but is not naviga- 
ble. Many streams and brooks fertilize the soil and empty 
into the Tar and Roanoke Rivers, 

Oxford rivals Durham in the sale of leaf tobacco, has one 
of the best male academies in the United States, an excellent 
female college, a capital high grade female boarding school, 
and also boasts of the Oxford Orphan Asylum, a noble in- 
stitution. Commodious churches of all denominations dot 
the county. 

In the county are three iron foundries, one sash and 
blind factory, two dog wood factories, four very large to- 
bacco warehouses and many tobacco factories. The people, 
raised among the hills, are large in size, of a Saxon hue, 
and are strong and healthy. 

The county debt has been funded and is now about 
$12,000, and is being rapidly liquidated. Lands sell for 
$5 to $8 an acre in the red lands, and for $15 to $25 an 
acre in the sandy lands, and the tendency of the price of 
land in both sections is upward. 

The county is rapidly growing and the county script 
brings dollar for dollar. The population as a whole is one 
of unusual energy, thrift and intelligence. A. H. A. W. 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 379 



Vance County 

Is ill N latitude 36® 15', and W. longitude 78° 25', and is ' 
known as one of the northern tier of counties in North 
Carolina. The county was organized in 1881 by the Legis- 
lature as a pressing need of the territory composing it on 
account of its rapid growth and business necessities, and 
was formed out of the most desirable and prosperous por- 
tions of Granville, Franklin and Warren Counties. The 
county has an area of 420 square miles and extends from 
the Roanoke River on the Virginia State line (its Northern 
boundary) to the Tar River on the South, a distance of 
about 30 miles, and has a width of from 14 miles to 18 miles. 
It is most advantageously situated as to railroads, water- 
power, character of soil, diversity of crops and healthful- 
ness. Being a new county it has no floating or bonded 
debt, and the assessment of taxes heretofore levied by the 
old counties, out of which it is formed, raises funds more 
than sufficient to meet its annual current expenses. 

The county seat and chief shipping and trading point of 
the county is Henderson, situate on the Raleigh and Gas- 
ton Railroad, 44 miles north of Raleigh, and 53 miles south 
of Weldon, and is the highest point on the line of the road, 
being 203 feet higher than Raleigh. This town has grown 
very rapidly in the last few yeai'S and now has over 2,000 
people, while more building is being done this year than any 
year before, and its prospects were never so bright. It is most 
advantageously situated. The tobacco and cotton crops here 
over-lap each other. Until within the past few years very 
little or no tobacco was raised east of Henderson, and very 
little or no cotton west . Now the bright, yellow tobacco, 
for which this section is so famous, is raised in large quan 
titles east, as well as west, of Henderson ; and cotton is 
planted successfully west, as well as east, of this town. 



380 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 

The business of the place is large and g-rowing-, cotton and 
tobacco being sold here from an area of 40 to 50 miles, and 
merchandise is sold to farmers from same sections in large 
quantities at close figures. Besides Henderson, the county 
has two railroad towns, Kittrell and Middleburg, and three 
county villages — Williamsboro, Townesville and Brookston 
— all of which are thrifty and growing. The principal 
railroad facility is offered by the Raleigh and Gaston Rail- 
road, which passes through the county from its southern 
to its northeast border and is in first-class condition and 
attentive to the needs of its patrons. This road is under 
the same management as the Seaboard and Roanoke Rail- 
road, the Raleigh and Augusta Air -Line Railroad and the 
Carolina Central Railroad, and also connects at Weldon with 
the railroad going North, via Richmond and Washington, 
and at Raleigh with the Richmond and Danville Railroad 
system going South. The Oxford and Henderson Railroad 
connects Henderson with Oxford, the county seat of Gran- 
ville County, and has a charter to Clarksville, Virginia, to 
which point it is proposed to extend the road. This road 
has a charter to Raleigh, via Louisburg, the county seat of 
Franklin, and is now actively making preparations to build 
to Louisburg. The new air-line road from Richmond 
South, much of which is now under contract, will strike 
the Raleigh and Gaston Railroad in this county. A road 
has also been chartered and surveyed from Keysville, on 
tlie Richmond and Danville Railroad, via Clarksville, to 
this point. Thus we see that Henderson promises in the 
near future to be a great railroad centre. 

The county is traversed by many streams, along whose 
banks are a large quantity of low^lands, rich and luxuriant. 
They furnish, in addition to a never failing water supply 
for stock and vegetation, water power in abundance. No 
county in the State is better supplied with water-power 
than this. Most of it iis never failing-. The county has 17 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 881 

manufacturing mills many of which are very large and 
fine. 

For diversity of crops Vance County yields the palm to 
none. The principal market crops are tobacco and cotton, 
which are marketed within the county at fair and remuner- 
ative prices. The cotton is of an unusually fine staple and 
the tobacco is mostly the fine yellow, six millions of 
pounds of tobacco being sold at Henderson each year and 
from five thousand to six thousand bales of cotton. In ad- 
dition to tobacco and cotton, wheat, corn and oats are raised 
in abundance, while the usual yield of rye, potatoes, mil- 
let, peas, beans, peanuts and melons is large and somewhat 
above the general average of the State. Apples, peaches, 
pears, plums, cherries, strawberries and grapes have done 
well and are raised in large quantities in many parts of the 
county. Along the railroad these fruits are raised for ship- 
ment to Northern markets and when properly cared for 
yield large profits. There are several large vineyards where 
the different varieties of wine of superior quality are man- 
ufactured in quantities and profitably. 

The county is well timbered, having the following ti'ees 
in abandance : Pine, oak, hickory, ash, maple, sweetgum, 
walnut, dogwood, cedar, locust, beech and elm, which fur- 
nish lumber in abundance for all purposes. 

About three-fourths of the area of the county is adapted 
to gTazing purposes, and in addition to the native grasses, 
clover and the cultivated grasses grow luxuriantly and 
find the soil well suited to them. The hay crop of nativp 
and cultivated grasses is profitable wherever any attention 
is paid to it. Sheep are unusually healthy and increas*^ 
rapidly. Cattle, for both beef and dairy purposes are raised 
to advantage and prove remunerative. Horses and mules 
are raised to some extent and advantage. Domestic fowls 
are raised in large numbers. There are a few deer, while 
turkeys, quail, wild ducks and squirrels are found in large 



382 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 

quantities and the ordinary varieties of fresh water fish are 
abundant in most of the streams. 

The county is noted for its healthfulness — a necessary 
consequence of its fine climate, joure air, and excellent 
water. Many visitors annually seek its borders on this ac- 
count. During the summer months many come from Vir- 
ginia and Eastern North Carolina, and stay until frost, 
while during the winter the towns along the railroad, es- 
pecially Kittrell, is eagerly sought by Northern visitors 
seeking a milder climate, mostly for health, while many 
come for sport and spend their time hunting turkeys, quail 
and other game. 

The religious and educational advantages are deserving 
of especial mention. Good churches of the various Protes- 
tant denominations are scattered throughout the county, 
and ai e regularly open for worship and well attended. In 
addition to numerous and good private schools in the towns, 
villages and neighborhoods, the public schools are regularly 
conducted and under the school system of the State are 
yearly improving. The Church and school buildings are 
good. The population is generally intelligent and law-abid- 
ing. The surface of the country is undulating and well- 
drained and averages about 473 feet above the level of the 
sea. J. R. Y. 



Franklin County. 

In 1779, the county of Bute was divided into two distinct 
counties, and the name of Bute, distasteful to the Whigs of 
the Revolutionary period, gave place to the patriotic names 
of Franklin and Warren. It was said then : "There are 
no Tories in Bute," and the liberty-loving, law-abiding and 
orderly character of the people of this section for more than 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 883 

a century, has shown that they were worthy of their ances- 
tors. 

Franklm County is situated just above the level region 
of the long-leaf pine, and in the edge of the rolling lands. 
In the lower or southeastern part of the county there are 
considerable forests of long-leaf pine, with oak, of many 
kinds, hickory, ash, maple, gum, elm, etc., while in the 
western and northern portion of the county, yellow pine, 
oaks, hickory, maple, dogwood, and a great variety of other 
trees grow. Upon exhausted land (and bad cultivation 
has exhausted many tracts) the old field pine grows in 
great luxuriance and very soon restores fertility. 

The climate is that of Raleigh, and is healthy and invig- 
orating. Throughout the county abundant springs are 
found of pure water of the best quality, and the entire 
county is well watered. Tar River runs diagonally through 
the county and upon this stream there is valuable water 
power, especially at Louisburg. On Cedar Creek, Sandy 
Creek, Lynch's Creek and a number of other never failing 
streams, are excellent mill sites and a number of fine mills. 
At Laurel, on Sandy Creek, there is a cotton factory, which 
has been in successful operation for several years. There 
is ample water power in the county for large and extensive 
factories. 

The population of the county is intelligent, industrious, 
hospitable, law-abiding, generous and tolerant. It is nearly 
equally divided between the white and colored races, and a 
better class of colored people can not be found. It is not a 
wealthy county, there are no very large estates, and prop- 
erty is, perhaps, more evenly distributed than in any sec- 
tion of the Union. There are no overgrown fortunes and 
no suffering paupers. It has the general school system of 
the State and the moral, intellectual, religious and industrial 
character of its people is good. 

Agriculture is the chief employment, and there is a steady 



384 COAL A-ND IRON COUNTIES 

improvement in the farms. Prior to the late war, corn, 
wheat, oats, j)eas, etc., were produced in great quantities, 
and hogs were raised for market. Cotton and tobacco were 
cultivated with success and constituted thus the chief mar- 
ket crqps, but, as a general rule there was an abundant sup- 
ply of all food crops for home consumption. Since the war 
the cotton mania has prevailed here, as elsewhere in the 
south, and supply crops have been neglected, to the great 
detriment of the material welfare of the county. No one 
product of the soil, however well it may be produced, can 
be relied upon to enrich an Agricultural State. It is not an 
unusual thing to produce two bales of cotton to the acre in 
Franklin and the capabilities of its soil are very great. One 
f ai'mer in the county (Mr. Henry Pearce, near Franklinton) 
has, for many years, averaged more than one bag and a-half 
to the acre, and in 1880, on 42 acres of land he produced 73 
bags of cotton, averaging 475 pounds ; on 28 acres he made 
59 bags. Mr. Pearce did not confine himself to cotton, but 
has raised abundant supply crops and illustrates the capa- 
bilities of the land of the county. Every section of the 
county could be made to produce as well. 

All the fruits of this latitude and climate can be produced 
in Franklin. Apples, pears, peaches, grapes, melons, straw- 
berries and many other varieties of fruit flourish. 

In the northeastern portion of the county are valuable 
gold mines ; from one of them (the Portis mine) gold, to 
the value of more than $1,000,000, has been taken. These 
mines present an iuviting field for enterprise. 

The Kaieigh and Gaston Railroad passes through the 
western part of the county and the town of Franklinton, on 
that road, 28 miles from Raleigh, is the principal depot for 
the county. The contemplated road from Raleigh to the 
Albemarle section will pass through the southeastern part of 
the county and a road is chartered from the town of Louis- 
burg (the county seat) to Henderson, on the Raleigh and 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 385 

Gaston Boad, and there is little doubt it will soon be built. 
These roads will greatly enhance the value of the land in 
the county. Land along the Raleigh and Gaston Railroad 
can be purchased at from $10 to $20 per acre. Lands off 
from the Railroad, of equal or greater fertility, can be pur- 
chased at from $4 to $8 per acre. The lands in the western 
and northern portions of the county are undulating, well 
watered with many streams and these are usually skirted 
with fertile bottoms, and corn, wheat, tobacco, and cotton, 
grow well, and also clover and other grasses. 

The southern and eastern portions of the county are 
level, with a gray, sandy soil, and admirably adapted to 
cotton, corn, and peas. In many sections of the county, 
granite, of an excellent quality can be found in inexhausti- 
ble quantities. 

The population of the county in 1870, was 14,134, in 1880, 
it was 20,829. The Baptist and Methodist are the leading- 
religious denominations. Louisburg, the county seat, is 
situated on Tar River, 28 miles northeast from Raleigh, and 
has a population of about 800, with two Baptist, two Pres- 
byterian, one Methodist and one Episcopal church. 

As already stated the chief occupation of the people of the 
county is agriculture. Manufactures and other pui'suits 
have been neglected, but the water power of the county 
will admit of extensive factories, especially of cotton, with 
the raw material at hand, and her forests of wood will ad- 
mit of great enterprise in the manufacture of wood. 

To people desiring homes among agriculturists, moral, 
kind, hospitable and tolerant, where lands can be purchased 
cheap in good neighborhood, and where, with moderate 
labor and ease, fortunes may be accumulated, Franklin 
presents an inviting field. To men desiring to engage in 
the undeveloped field of manufactures and to make avail- 
able the resources of the water powers of the county and 
the woods of the forests, there is ample scope for untold 
wealth. J, J. D. 



386 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 



Halifax County. 



As to the geographical characteristics of this County, it 
may be stated that when in remote ages the sea covered so 
large a part of the eastern United States it extended to the 
Falls of the Tar Eiver and to the Falls of the Eoanoke, 
and a line drawn between these points divides the County 
in nearly equal parts. The western half is a rolling hill 
country and the eastern is level, though certainly not a flat 
country, and contains much marl and other fossil remains. 
The Roanoke River is the northern boundary and gives to 
the County a beautiful and fertile valley sixty miles long 
and about one-and-a-half miles wide. Quite a large stream, 
Fishing Creek, is the southern boundary for about 25 miles 
and many fine farms are located upon it. Into these two 
streams a great number of brooks and branches flow ; in- 
deed there is scarcely a road in the County upon which one 
can travel six miles without crossing some perennial 
stream. 

There are a great many churches in the County, all Prot- 
estant. Schools are numerous and good. Halifax has 
always stood high for its social advantages. At almost every 
cross road we have a little village, and there are four in the 
County which will range from two hundred to one thousand 
inhabitants. Health is good everywhere except immedi- 
ately on the river and creeks. 

There is a constitutional limit to taxation, which is 66|- 
cents per $' JO, of which last year 31 cents was for State and 
residue for County taxes. 

As to the population, the whites, who constitute about 
one-third, are nearly all of British descent. Owing to the 
large negro population labor is cheap and abundant ; wages 
last year for No. 1 hands was from $8 to $10 per month, 
with rations of 4i pounds of meat and one peck of meal per 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 387 

week. We have a plenty of cotton gins, com, wheat and 
saw mills ; but manufactures are at a low ebb. Merchants 
as a rule do a safe business and prosper. As to transporta- 
tation, our river is navigable about nine months in the 
year. We also have two trunk lines and one branch rail- 
road running through the County. 

Greatest heat in a well built house is 97" Fahrenheit, and 
greatest cold 22°. Rainfall is 37 inches per annum. 

Every variety of fruit suitable to latitude 36° 10' to 80' 
flourishes here. I have seen this spring strawberries as 
large as a pullet's egg. In the western part of the County 
is one of the largest vineyards in the south, where thou- 
sands of gallons of excellent wine are made yearly. 

As to cotton, I know one man, who, with one horse, has 
made, besides the necessary corn, 25 bales. One of my 
neighbors last year on 125 acres made 124 bales, averaging 
450 pounds, and several others did nearly as well and it 
goes without saying that land which will make such crops 
will make any thing else. W. R. B. 



Nash Oonnty. 



Nash County is situated in the western part of the Eastern 
Division of the State and is bounded on the north by Hali- 
fax County, east by Edgecombe, south by Wilson and 
Johnston, and west by Franklin. Its capital is Nashville, 
44 miles east of Raleigh. 

Its population in 1880 was: white, 9,417; colored, 8,314. 
An increase of 33 V3 per cent in 10 years. 

Value of RealEbiate in 1882, $1,415,270; value of per- 
sonal property in 1882, $612,933. Assessed value of land, 
$4.08 per acre. 

Number of children of school age: white, 3,003; colored, 



388 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 

2, 886. Of tlieF5e one h. ,Tf attended the public school. Length 
of public school term, 2^/i months. 

Tar River, one of the most notable streams in the West- 
ern Hemisphere, waters this county, together with several 
large tributary creeks, and hence we have a large proportion 
of swamp and heavily-timbered land. In- southern and 
western portions of the County it is broken and the soil red 
and stiff with some rock, well adapted to the growth of 
grain and tobacco. It grows fine cotton also. In other 
parts the soil is generally gray and the face of the country 
level. 

In the Western, Northwestern and Northern portions 
there is some lack of timber except in the swamps. All 
the other portions are well timbered. The long leaved pine, 
red and white and Spanish oak, hickory and blackjack are 
the leading varieties on the upland, and all of these and 
the water oak, cypress and gum on the low land. 

The improved farms produce from V4 to V/i bales of cot- 
ton of 450 lbs. and from 30 to 40 bushels of corn and 20 
bushels of wheat to the acre. The unimproved from \/i 
to 3/4 bale cotton and from 10 to 20 bushels corn. No wheat 
is grown on the unimproved land worthy of mention. On 
the red land the grasses and clover do well. Large yields 
of peas and potatoes are grown on the gray land. If the 
swamp lands in this County were reclaimed it would be one 
of the wealthiest in the State. It is estimated that if this 
were done enough corn could be raised in this County 
alone to supply one half the entire State. 

The Baptist and Methodist are the leading de]iominations 
of Christians, and a church of one of these sects may be 
found in almost every community, and a good moral and 
religious tone pervades our society. 

The Wilmington & Weldon Railroad is the boundary line 
on the east and Fishing Creek on the north. 

The famous Falls of Tar River are in this County, one 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 389 

mile from the town of Rocky ivlount. The large and valu- 
able Cotton Factory known as the Rocky Mt. Mills is lo- 
cated here. There are several excellent localities in this 
County where the water power is sufficient for large manu- 
facturing estabhshments. 

The water is good and the climate mild. Our laws are 
rigidly enforced and there is no lack of protection to life, 
liberty or property. A. W. B- 



Wilson County. 



Was formed in 1855 from portions of Edgecombe, Johnston, 
Nash and Wayne Counties. 

Population in 1870 was 12,258; in 1880, 16,064. Assessed 
value of taxable property m 1882, $3,003,700; that of live 
stock was $211,859. 

In 1880 there were 66,027 acres of improved land in the 
county out of 196, 146 acres listed for taxation. 

The surface is slightly undulating, with sandy and clayey 
soils varied. The price of the improved land ranges from 
$10 to $25 per acre. 

The products of the soil are corn, cotton, wheat, oats, 
rye, peas, potatoes, rice, grasses, and a variety of vegetables, 
all of which are successfully and profitably gro\^^l here, 
though more attention is given to the cultivation of cotton 
and corn than to any other crops. 

Of the fruits, apples, peaches, pears, grapes, cherries, 
melons and berries are produced in great abundance, and 
the Westbrook Nurseries, perhaps the largest and most 
successful in the State, are located near the town of 
Wilson. 

The forests are well timbered with pine, oak, hickory, 
ash, birch, maple, cypress and gum. 



890 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 

Iron ore has been found in several places in the county, 
and there are several iron and magnesia springs. 

The farms are cultivated by tenants and by hired labor. 
When the landlord furnishes the tenant a house, team 
and agricultural implements, and the tenant all the labor 
necessary to cultivate and harvest the crop, the customary 
rental is one-half of the products of the farm. 

The average price paid for hired labor is about $10 per 
month and board, with a house, garden, potato patch and 
fire wood furnished to those laborers who contract for 
twelve months. 

The railway stations of the county are Wilson, Black 
Creek and Toisnot. Wilson, the county seat and principal 
shippmg point, is 108 miles north of Wilmington on the 
Wilmington and Weldon Railroad, about 50 miles east of 
Raleigh. It has now a population of about 2,000 inhabit- 
ants, and is a beautiful, thrifty and progressive town. 

The Wilson Cotton Mills, equipped with entirely new and 
the most improved machinery, have recently been com- 
pleted, and are daily turning out an excellent quality of 
warps and yarns. 

In the town of Wilson there are five churches of differ- 
ent denominations for the whites and four for the colored 
people, and the number of churches conveniently located 
in different parts of the county affords every facility for 
religious worship. 

Besides the excellent graded schools at Wilson and 
Toisnot, there are in the county 31 public schools for 
whites and 24 for colored children, and the Wilson Collegi- 
ate Institute for white females. Prof. S. Hassell, A. M.,. 
Principal, is a school of deservedly high reputation through- 
out the State. 

Moccasin River, a beautiful stream, well stocked with 
white shad, runs through the southern part of the county, 
affording a fine water power for the several wheat, grist 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 891 

and saw mills on its banks, and aflPording eligible sites for 
the erection of manufactories. 

The county is entirely out of debt, and a tax of only 15 
cents on the $100 worth of property was levied in 1882 for 
county purposes. 

There are few or no local causes of sickness, and the cli- 
mate of the county is generally mild and healthful. 

J. E. W. 



392 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 

The Census Figures. 

[Compendium lOth United States Census.] 

The area of North Carolina, land surface, 48,580 square 
miles ; 31,091,200 acres. 

The population, 1,399,750 ; to the square mile, 28.81 ;270-, 
994 families, inhabitmg 264,305 dwellings ; male, 687,908 ; 
female, 711,842 ; native, 1,396,008 ; foreign, 3,742 ; white, 
867,242 ; colored (including 1 Japanese and 1,230 Indians) 
532,508 ; voters, 294,750 ; white, 189,732 ; colored, 105,018 ; 
of the natives, 1,344,553 born in North Carolina, and 
51,455 in 48 other States and Territories. 

The farms, 157,609 ; 22, 363, 558 acres ; 6,481,191 improved ; 
15,882,367 unimproved ; average size of farms, 142 acres ; 
value of farms, $135,793,602 ; of farming implements, 
$6,078,476; live stock, $22,414,659; cost of building and re- 
pairing fences for census year, $1,869,654; cost of fertilizers 
per year, $2,111,767; products, $51,729,611. 

The principal vegetable productions : Barley, 2,421 bush- 
els; buckwheat, 44,668 bushels; corn, 28,019,839 bushels; 
oats 3,838,068 bushels; rye, 285,160 bushels; wheat, 3,397,- 

393 bushels; orchard products, $903,513; hay, 93,711 tons; 
rice, 5,609,191 lbs.; cotton, 389,598 bales; potatoes, Irish, 
722,773; sweet, 4,576, 148 bushels; tobacco, 26,986,213 lbs. 

The live stock : Horses, 133,686; mules and asses, 81,871; 
working oxen, 50,188; milch cows, 232,133; other cattle, 
375,105; sheep, 461, 638; hogs, 1,453,541. Products: Wool, 
917,756 lbs; milk, 446,798 gaUons; butter, 7,212,507 lbs.; 
cheese, 57,380 lbs. 

Assessed valuation, $156,100,202, viz.: real property, 
$101,709,326; personal property, $54,390,876. 

Taxation, $1,916,132, viz.: State, $706,903; county, $986,- 
956; city, town and village, $222,273. Debt, $8,194,606, 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 393 

viz.: State, $5,706,616; county, $1,524,654; city and town, 
$963,336. 

Manufacturing establishments, 3,802; capital, $13,045,639; 
employes, 18,109; wages $2,740,768; materials used, $13,- 
090,937; product, $20,095,037. 

Public schools: White, 4,015; colored, 2,146; teachers, 
white, 4,291; colored, 1,975; average daily attendance of 
pupils, white, 102,254; colored, 62,316; value of school 
property, $248,015; revenue, $553,464. 

Newspapers and periodicals, 142 ; daily, 13 ; weekly, 113 ; 
semi-weekly, 3 ; tri-weekly, 2 ; monthly, 7 ; semi-monthly, 4. 

IN THE COAL AND IRON COUNTIES. 

Alexander County.— The population is 8,355: white, 
7,458; colored, 897; male, 4,025; female, 4,330; native, 8,350; 
foreign, 5; voting, 1,652; white, 1,494; colored, 158. 

Property and Taxation. — The real and personal property 
was assessed at $713,000; State, County and Town taxation, 
property and poll, $6,038; no debt. 

Farm Areas and Values. — There were 1,355 farms of 
48,985 acres improved land; value, $697,665 ; farming imple- 
ments, $33,602; Hve stock, $146,600; products, $212,292. 

Principal Vegetable Productions, — Corn 212,382 bushels ; 
51,752 of oats; 2,445 of rye; 35,338 of wheat: hay, 167 tons; 
cotton, 182 bales; potatoes — Irish, 5,493; sweet, 9,237 
bushels; tobacco, 11,799 lbs. ; orchard products, $17,473. 

Live Stock and Products. — Horses, 976; mules, 794; 
working oxen, 182 ; milch cows, 1,836; other cattle, 2,431; 
sheep, 4,403; hogs, 9,509; wool, 6,779 lbs. ; milk, 3 gallons; 
butter, 70,510 lbs. ; cheese 1,052 lbs. 

Manufactures- — Manufacturing estabUshments, 32 ; capi- 
tal, $69,972; employes, 49; wages, $5,371; materials used, 
$62,130; products, $81,715. 
I 

Alamance.— Population, 14,613: wliite, 9,997; colored, 



894 COAL AISTD IRON COUNTIES 

4,613; male, 6,992; female, 7,621; native, 14,576; foreign, 
37; voters, 3,066; white, 2,193; colored, 873. 

Property and Tacca^fon.— Assessment, $2,272,248; taxes, 
$18,284; debt, $7,664. 

Farm Areas and Values. — 1,615 farms; 77,799 acres; 
value, $1,500,876; implements, $72,556; live stock, $250,- 
823; products, $470,758. 

Vegetable Productions. — Corn, 305,874 bushels; oats, 
48,869; rye, 619; wheat, 82,163; orchard products, $35,487; 
hay, 2,590 tons; cotton, 91 bales; potatoes (Irish), 7,087; 
sweet, 13,252; tobacco, 695,013 lbs. 

Live Stock and Products. — Horses, 2,422; mules, 693; 
oxen, 73; cows, 2,891; other cattle, 3,869; sheep, 5,000; 
hogs, 11,796; wool, 11,018 lbs. ; milk 3,586 gallons; butter, 
103,356 lbs. ; cheese, 385 lbs. 

Manufactures. — Establishments, 58 ; capital, $724,766 ; em- 
ployes, 693; wages, $93,622; materials, $422,489; products, 
$709,196. 

Alleghany.— Population, 5,486: white, 4,967; colored, 
519; male, 2,760; female, 2,726; native, 5,484; foreign, 2; 
voters, 1,181— white, 1,080, colored, 101. 

Property and Taxation. — Real and personal property, 
$602,601; taxes, $5,999; debt, $5,462. 

Farm Areas and Values. — 914 farms; acres,74,747; value, 
$827,828; implements, $27,345; livestock, $165,791; product, 
$146,182. 

Vegetable Productions. — Buckwheat, 6,254 bushels ; com, 
122,587; oats, 19,365; rye, 17,638; wheat, 10,291; hay, 3,603 
tons; potatoes — Irish, 5,009, sweet, 285 bushels; tobacco, 
2,049 lbs. ; orchard products, $5,114. 

Live-stock and Products. — Horses, 1,432; mules, 110; 
oxen, 410; cows, 2,287; other cattle, 3,049; sheep, 6,738; 



OF TTORTH CAKOLINA. 395 

hogs, 7,522; wool, 19,159 lbs. ; butter, 81,605 lbs.; cheese, 
3,205 lbs. 

Manufactures. — Establishments, 6; capital, $7,000; em- 
ployes, 7; wages, $750; material, $8,950; product, $11,243. 

Anson.— Population, 17,994: white, 8,790, colored, 9,204; 
male, 8,712, female, 9,282; native, 17,966, foreign, 28; voters, 
3,568— white, 1,914, colored, 1,654. 

Property and Taxation. — Assessment, $1,556,731; taxes, 
$27,409; debt, $35,000. 

Farm Areas and Values. — 2,083 farms; 90,061 acres; 
value, $1,816,037; implements, $83,234; live-stock, $302,135; 
products, $966,456. 

Vegetable Productions. — Corn, 305,139 bushels; oats, 
72,454; rye, 574; wheat, 25,846; orchard products, $3,193; 
hay, 217 tons; cotton, 11,857 bales; potatoes — Irish, 4,908, 
sweet, 39,645 bushels; tobacco, 4,880 lbs. 

Live Stock and Products. — Horses, 1,182; mules, 1,546; 
oxen, 725 ; cows, 2,885; other cattle, 4,682; sheep, 4,085; 
hogs, 14,229; wool, 8,817 pounds; milk, 110 gallons; butter, 
98,907 pounds. 

Manufactures. — Establishments, 51; capital, $82, 160; em- 
ployes, 137; wages, $17,750; materials, $126,095; products, 
$169,353. 

Ashe.— Population, 14,437: white, 13,471, colored, 966; 
male, 7,249, female, 7,188; native, 14,404, foreign, 33; 
voters, 2,904— white, 2,658, colored, 246. 

Property and Taxation. — Assessment, $1,059,934; taxes, 
$11,249; debt, $4,000. 

Farm Areas and Values, — 1,942 farms, 117,174 acres; 
value, $1,747,351; implements, $62,269; live stock, $354,- 
048; products, $469,669. 

Vegetable Productions. — Buckwheat, 6,131 bushels ; com, 



390 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 

277,037; oats, 37,955; rye, 33,809; wheat, 39,407; orchard 
products, $15., 265 ; hay, 7,349 tons; ijotatoes— Irish, 12,688, 
sweet, 411 bushels; tobacco, 11,064 pounds. 

Live Stock and Products.— Horses, 2,396; mules, 208; 
oxen, 709, cows, 4,455; other cattle, 0,320; sheep, 12,292; 
hogs, 18,170; wool, 37,483 lbs. ; milk, 6,740 gallons; butter, 
176,478 lbs. ; cheese, 10,596 lbs. 

Manufactures. — Establishments, 57; capital, $49,810; em- 
ployes, 67; wages, $9,801; material, $82,576; product, 
$109,231. 

Buncombe.— Population, 21,909: white, 18,422; colored, 
3,487; male, 10,938- female, 10, 971 ; native, 21,781; foreign, 
128- voters, 4,613: white, 3,842; colored, 771. 

Property and Taxation. — Assessment, $2,636,721; taxes, 
$35,789; debt, $97,900. 

Farm Areas and Values.— 2,5Q0 farms; 99,602 acres; 
value, $2,589,897; implements, $90,064; Uve stock, $467,991; 
products, $521,625. 

Vegetable Productions.— Bwckwhesit, 3,981 bushels ; corn, 
490,544; oats, 62,699; rye, 12,707; wheat, 84,974; orchard 
products, $22,270; hay, 2,281 tons; potatoes, Irish, 19,211; 
sweet, 5,872 bushels; tobacco, 475,428 lbs. 

Live Stock and Products.— Horses, 2,352; mules, 1,247: 
oxen, 291; cows, 4,350; other cattle, 6,746; sheep, 10,897; 
hogs, 18,516; wool, 18,425 lbs. ; milk, 46,273 gallons; butter, 
348,455 lbs. ; cheese, 1,270 lbs. 

Manufactures.— EstahlishmentSj 58; capital, $156,035; 
employes, 145; wages, $24,615; material, $127,897; products, 
$198,886. 

Burke.— Population, 12,809 : white, 10,088 ; colored, 2,721 ; 
male, 6,157; female, 6,652; native, 12,792; foreign, 17; vo- 
ters, 2,503; white, 2,055; colored, 448. 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 397 

Property and Taxation. — Assessment, $888,497; taxes, 
$14,689; debt, $25,000. 

Farm Areas and "PaZi^es. —1,648 farms; 44,496 acres; 
value, $812,157: implements, $20,786; live stock, $151,758; 
products, $261,005. 

Vegetable Productions. — Buckwheat, 46 bushels; corn, 
325,656; oats, 21,76^;; ryo, 4,000; v/heat, 49,338; orchard 
products, $6,772; hay, 632 tone; rice, 4,808 lbs.; cotton, 
361 bales; potatoes, Irish, 6,782; sweet, 11,358 bushels; to- 
bacco, 20,079 lbs. 

Live Stock and Products. —Horses, 1.091; mules, 917; 
oxen, 347; cows, 2,123; other cattlo, 0,G32; sheep. 4.418; 
hogs, 0,426; wool, 6,856 lbs. ; milk, 428 gallons; butter, 80,- 
107 lbs. ; cheese, 1,232 lbs. 

Manufactures. — Establishments, 35; capital, $61,485; em- 
ployes, 113; wages, $14,232; material, $84,214; product, 
$112,376. 

Cabarrus.— -Population: 14,964: white, 9,849; colored, 
5,115; male, 7,358; female, 7,606; native, 14,933; foreign, 31 ; 
voters, 3,172; white, 2,141; colored, 1,031. 

Property and Taxation. — Assessment, $2,253,988; taxes, 
$23,186; debt, $3,340. 

Farm Areas and Values. — 1,729 farms; 90,514 acres; 
value, $2,205,643; implements, $90,364; live stock, $296,697; 
product, $764,084. 

Vegetable Productions. — Corn, 381,321 bushels; oats, 54,- 
519; rye, 355; wheat, 84,656; orchard products, $8,772; hay, 
3,496 tons; cotton, 7,467 bales; potatoes, Irish, 7,062; sweet, 
11,241 bushels; tobacco, 3,230 lbs. 

Live Stock and Products.—Horses, 2,167; mules, 1,583; 
oxen, 37; cows, 2,547; other cattle, 3,575; sheep, 3,551; hogs, 
12,284; wool, 7,663 lbs. ; milk, 25 gallons; butter, 127,927 
lbs. ; cheese, 325 lbs. 



398 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 

il/a72w/acfwres.— Establishments, 74; capital, $155,579; 
employes, 278; wages, $44,009; materials, $213,561; prod- 
ucts, $313,624. 

Caldwell. — Population, 10,291: white, 8,91; colored, 1,- 
600; male, 4,977; female, 5,314; native, 10,279; foreign, 12; 
voters, 2,001: white, 1,738; colored, 263. 

Property and Taxation. — Assessment, $963,114; taxes, 
$11,886; debt, $1,400. 

Farm Areas and "FaZwes.— 1,442 farms; 47,405 acres; 
value. $1,183,428; implements, $78,497; livestock, $170,225; 
products, $278,529. 

Vegetable Productions. — Buckwheat, 304 bushels; corn, 
274,495; oats, 30,592; rye, 2,855; wheat, 42,513; orchard 
products, $15,418; hay, 695 tons; rice 1,649 lbs.; cotton, 
12 bales; potatoes, Irish, 14,487; sweet, 21,071 bushels; to- 
bacco, 25,384 lbs. 

Live Stock and Products. — Horses, 1,065; mules, 731; 
oxen, 290; cows, 2,045; other cattle, 2,808; sheep, 4,915; 
hogs, 11,424; wool, 9,714 lbs. ; milk, 51,051 gallons; butter, 
87,064 lbs. ; cheese, 1,002 lbs. 

Manufactures. — Establishments, 49; capital, $98,025; em- 
ployes, 132; wages, $16,072; materials, $89,055; products, 
$126,190. 

CatA-WBA. — Population, 14,946; white, 12,469; colored, 
2,477; male, 7,153; female, 7,793; native, 14,905; foreign, 
41; voters, 3,037; white, 2,588; colored, 449. 

Property and Taxation. — Assessment, $2,052,931 ; taxes, 
$13,572 ;debt, $4,700. 

Farm Areas and Values. — 1,725 farms : 78,080 acres ; 
value, $1,723,438 ; implements, $86,140 ; live stock, $241,- 
219 ; products, $458,257. 

Vegetable Productions. — Corn, 358,210 bushels ; oats, 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 399 

64,236 ; rye, 783 ; wheat, 104,770 ; orchard products, $14,- 
857 ; hay, 1,137 tons; cotton, 2,012 bales ; potatoes — Irish, 
12,687 ; sweet, 19,325 bushels ; tobacco, 26,380 lbs. 

Live Stock and Products. — Horses, 1,698 ; mules, 1,243 ; 
oxen, 66 ; cows, 2,871 ; other cattle, 3,769 ; sheep, 6,299 ; 
hogs, 10,594 ; wool, 10,862 lbs. ; milk, 352 gallons ; but- 
ter, 120,784 lbs. ; cheese, 1,338 lbs. 

Manufactures. — Establishments, 77 ; capital, $168,865 ; 
employes, 318 ; wages, $34,510 ; material, $193,251, pro- 
ducts, $282,604. 

Chatham. — Population 23,453 : white, 15,500 ; colored, 
7,953 ; male, 11,416 ; female 12,037 ; native 23,414 ; foreign, 
39 ; voters, 4,862— white, 3,404 ; colored, 1,458. 

Property and Taxation. — Assessment, $2,496,248 ; taxes, 
$26,451 ; debt, $5,000. 

Farm Areas and Values. — 3,554 farms ; 126,940 acres ; 
value, $2,098,668 ; implements, $143,672 ; live stock, $476, 
788 ; products, $995,369. 

Vegetable Productions. — Corn, 558,281 bushels ; oats, 
120,341 ; rye, 328 ; wheat, 122,760 ; orchard products, $22,- 
165 ; hay, 77 tons ; cotton, 5,858 bales ; potatoes — Irish 18,- 
957 ; sweet, 53,334 bushels; tobacco, 49,837 lbs. 

Live Stock and Products. — Horses, 3,040 ; mules, 2,164; 
oxen, 464 ; cows, 5,736 ; other cattle, 9,124 ; sheep; 15,089 ; 
hogs, 30,150 ; wool, 31,595 lbs. ; milk, 356 gallons ; but- 
ter, 226,078 lbs. ; cheese, 1,926 lbs. 

Manufactures. — Establishments, 93 ; capital, $576,885 ; 
employes, 180 ; wages, $22,853 ; material, $227,993 ; pro- 
ducts, $286,709. 

Cherokee.— Population, 8,182 ; white, 7,796 ; colored, 
288 ;male, 3,991 ; female, 4,191 ; native, 8,177 ; foreign, 5 ; 
voters, 1,570 — white, 1,494 ; colored, 76. 



4U0 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 

Property and Taxation. — Assessment, $607,537 ; taxi <. 
$5,595 ;debt, $8,111. 

Farm Areas and Values. — 964 farms, 30,668 acres; 
value, $566,734; implements, $24,753; live stock, $133,668; 
products, $182,913. 

Vegetable Productions. — Buckwheat, 77 bushels; corn, 
227,650; oats, 11,657; rye, 4,781; wheat, 17,898; orchard 
products, $7,021; hay, 997 tons; potatoes — Irish, 12,379; 
sweet, 11,789 bushels; tobacco, 8,411 lbs. 

Live Stock and Products. — Horses, 888; mules, 307: 
oxen, 598; cows, 1,821; other cattle, 3,374; sheep, 6,861; 
hogs, 11,533; wool, 8,878 lbs. ; milk, 3 gallons ; butter, 95,- 
680 lbs. ; cheese, 66 lbs. 

Manufactures. — Establishments, 21; capital, $29,420; em- 
ployes, 46; wages, ^4.705; material, $23,722; products, $37,- 
971. 

Clay .—Population, 3,316; white, 3,175; colored, 141; 
male, 1,679; female, 1,637; native, 3,316; voters, 675 — white, 
655 ; colored, 20. 

Property and Taxation. — Assessment, $254,261; taxes, 
$3,075; debt, $1,500. 

Farm Areas and Values. — 544 farms ; 17,691 acres ; value. 
$403,348; implements, $17,582; live stock, $90,423; products, 
$95,402. 

Vegetable Productions. — Buckwheat, 157 bushels; corn, 
113.462; oats, 7,607; rye, 3,562; wlieat, 13,093; orchard pro- 
ducts, $1,246; hay, 475 tons; potatoes — Irish, 3,512; sweet, 
7, 058 bushels ; tobacco, 5, 771 lbs. 

Live Stock and Products. — Horses, 642; mules, 318; 
oxen, 162; cows, 989; other cattle, 1,899; sheep, 3,238; 
hogs, 1,113; wool, 8,333 lbs.; butter, 49,581 lbs.; cheese, 
98 lbs. 

Manufactures. — Establishments, 4; capital, $4,500: em- 



OF NOETH CAEOLINA. 401 

ployes, 4; wages. $625; material, $15,297; pi*oducts, $16,- 
732. 

Cleveland.— Population, 16,571: white, 13,700; colored, 
2,871; male, 8,022; female, 8,549; native, 16,559; foreign, 
12; voters, 3,365— white, 2,848; colored, 522. 

Property and Taxation. — Assessment, $1,609,361; taxes, 
$26,078; debt, $30,000. 

Farm Areas arid Values, — 2,247 farms, 87,691 acres; 
value, $2,444,056; implements, $80,576; live stock, $248,- 
707; products, $702,578. 

Vegetable Productions.— Covn, 390,281 bushels ; oats, 
63,211 ; rye, 875 : wheat, 55,983; orchard products, $5,642; 
hay, 119 tons; rice, 835 lbs. ; cotton, 6,126 bales; potatoes — 
Irish, 3,221, sweet, 35,834 bushels; tobacco, 5,122 lbs. 

Live Stock and Products. — Horses, 1,403; mules, 1,846; 
oxen, 172; cows, 3,556; other cattle, 4,397; sheep, 8,342; 
hogs, 11,327; wool, 9,879 lbs.; milk, 1,858 gallons ; butter, 
176,411 lbs. ; cheese, 387 lbs. 

Manufactures.— Esiahlishments, 52 ; capital, $133,200; 
employes, 195; wages, $25,700; material, $172,575; pro- 
ducts, $262, 128. 

Cumberland.— Population, 23,836 : white, 12,594 ; 
colored, 11,241 ; male, 11,493 ; female, 12,343 ; native, 
23,717; foreign, 119; voters, 4,861— white, 2,726; colored, 
2,135. 

Property and Taxation.— Assessment, $2,380,402; taxes, 
$41,118; debt, $310,000. 

Farm Areas and Values.— 1,Q87 farms; 59,639 acres; 
value, $1,284,067; implements, $55,121; live stock, $220,- 
936; products, $570,533. 

Vegetable Productions.— Corn, 282,423 bushels; oats, 
13,791; rye, 4,343; wheat, 7,494; orchard products, $8,560; 



402 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 

hay, 1,195 tons; rice, 19,963 lbs. ; cotton, 3,905 bales; pota- 
toes—Irish, 2,104, sweet, 91,355 bushels. 

Live Stock and Product c. — Horses, 1,089; mules, 914; 
oxen, 495; cows, 2,457; other cattle, 5,379; sheep, 5,801; 
hogs, 23,179; wool, 11,666 lbs.; milk, 616 gallons; butter, 
39,453, lbs. ; cheese, 215 lbs. 

Manufactures. — Establishments, 81; capital, $460,750; 
employes, 754; wages, $120,348; material, $353,701; prod- 
ucts, $612,461. 

Davidson.— Population, 20,333: white, 16,341; colored, 
3,992; male, 9,934; female, 10,399; native, 20,308; foreign, 
25; voters, 4,375 — white, 3,574; colored, 801. 

Property and Taxation. — Assessment, $2,305,859; taxes, 
$23,654; debt, none. 

Farm Areas and Values. — 3,087 farms; 129,664 acres, 
value, $2,666,746; implements, $159,609; live stock, $476,- 
352; products, $777,659. 

Vegetable Productions. — Barley, 364 bushels; corn, 549,- 
906; oats, 122,063; rye, 1,414; wheat, 174,671; orchard 
products, $40,076; hay, 8,667 tons; cotton, 1,553 bales; 
potatoes — Irish, 26,108, sweet ,30, 665 bushels; tobacco, 260,- 
538 lbs. 

Live Stock and Products. — Horses, 3,386 ; mules, 1,366 ; 
oxen, 220 ; cows, 4,334 ; other cattle, 5,745 ; sheep, 11,051 ; 
hogs, 23,682 ; wool, 20,926 lbs. ; milk, 740 gallons ; butter, 
157,757 lbs. ; cheese, 276 lbs. 

Manufactures. — Establishments, 92 ; capital, $161,230; 
employes, 245; wages, $42, 937 ; material, $336,878; products, 
$452,668. 

Davie.— Population, 11,096: white, 7,770; colored, 3,326; 
male, 5,396; female, 5,700; native, 11,091; foreign, 5; voters, 
2^359— wliite, 1,718; colored, 641. 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 4();j 

Property and Taicafion.— Assessment, $1,224,206; taxes, 
$14,358 ;debt, none. 

Farm Areas and Values. — 1,492 farms; 66,810 acres; 
value, $1,298,178; implements, $56,420; live stock, $401,425; 
product, $467,979. 

Vegetable Productions. — Corn, 438,595 bushels; oats, 
139,126; rye, 1,986; wheat, 71,127; orchard products, $8,210; 
hay, 2,041 tons; cotton, 302 bales; potatoes — Irish, 8,233; 
sweet, 6,231 bushels; tobacco, 633,339 lbs. 

Live- Stock and Products. — Horses, 1,563; mules, 826; 
oxen, 105; cows, 1,866; other cattle, 2,409; sheep, 3,415, 
hogs, 12,695; wool, 7,031 lbs. ; milk, 175 gallons ; butter, 
74,944 lbs.; cheese, 8 lbs. 

Manufactures. — Establishments, 60; capital, $80,552; em- 
ployes, 144; wages, $14,937; material, $108,188; products, 
$150,965. 

Forsyth.— Population, 18,070: white, 13,441; colored, 
4,629; male, 8,832; female, 9,238; native, 18,003; foreign, 
67; voters, 4,164— white, 3,130; colored, 1,034. 

Property and Taxation.— Assessment, $2,893,252; taxes, 
$27,995; debt, $26,400. 

Farm Areas and Values. — 1,871 farms; 79,350 acres, 
value, $1,361,975; implements, $81,006; live stock, $203,661; 
products, $496,759. 

Vegetable Productions.— Corn, 335,164 bushels; oats, 
95,304; rye, 1,968; wheat, 77,082; orchard products, $38,- 
605; hay, 4,312 tons; cotton, 10 bales; potatoes— Irish, 17,- 
629; sweet, 18,447 bushels; tobacco, 822,788 lbs. 

Live Stock and Products.— Horses, 1,820; mules, 703; 
oxen, 84; cows, 2,658; other cattle, 2,594; sheep, 4,258; 
hogs, 10,658; wool, 8,977 lbs.; milk, 17,205 gallons; but- 
ter, 122,715 lbs. ; cheese, 737 lbs. 

Manufactures.— Establishments, 96; capital, $708,850; 



4U4 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 

employes, 1,434; wages, $199,509; material, $734,840; pro- 
ducts, $1,104,749. 

Franklin. — Population, 20,829: white, 9,476, colored, 11,- 
353; male, 10,294, female, 10, 535 ; native, 20,820, foreign, 9; 
voters, 4,257— white, 2,145, colored, 2,112. 

Property and Taxation. — Assessment, $2,444,807; taxes, 
$43,652; debt, $5,000. 

Farm Areas and Values. — 2,415 farms; 90.118, acres; 
value, $2,224,478 ; implements, $125, 151 ; live-stock, $289,617 ; 
products, $1,020,331. 

Vegetable Productions. — Corn, 338,239 bushels; oats, 
45,812; rye, 961; wheat, 45,504; orchard products, $7,690; 
hay, 156 tons; cotton, 12,938 bales; potatoes — Irish, 4,265, 
sweet, 48,684 bushels; tobacco, 58,932 lbs. 

Live Stock and Products. — Horses, 1,901; mules, 990; 
oxen, 1,306; cows, 2,866; other cattle, 5,054; sheep, 4,544; 
hogs, 16,428; wool, 989 lbs.; milk, 10 gallons; butter, 66,- 
611 lbs. ; cheese, 2201bs. 

Manufactures.— F,stahlishments, 46 ; capital, $111,825 ; em- 
ployes, 139; wages, $18,895; materials, $90,689; products, 
$134,112. 

Gaston.— Population, 14,254: white, 10,188, colored,. 
4,066; male, 6,916, female, 7,338; native, 14,200, foreign, 54; 
voters, 2,918— white, 2,098, colored, 820. 

Property and Taxation. — Assessment, $2,018,005; taxes, 
$15,012; debt, none. 

Farm Areas and Values. — 1,547 farms; 70,672 acres; 
value, $1,836,591; implements, $68,906; hve stock, $246,926; 
products, $625,459. 

Vegetable Productions. — Corn, 373,472 bushels; oats, 
50,244; rye, 265; wheat, 62,860; orchard products, $2,766 
hay, 821 tons; cotton, 4,588 bales; potatoes — Irish, 5,439, 
sweet, 19,290 bushels; tobacco, 2,180 lbs. 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 405 

Live Stock and Products. — Horses, 978; mules, 1,505; 
oxen, 34; cows, 2,303; other cattle, 3,608; sheep, 4,636; 
hogs, 10,310; wool, 6,317 lbs. ; milk, 126, 000 gallons; butter, 
125,505 lbs. ; cheese, 120 lbs. 

Manufactures. — Establishments, 87; capital, $635,965; 
employes, 453; wages, $72,245; material, $570,014; pro- 
ducts, $844,308. 

Graham.— Population, 2,335: white, 2,123; colored, 212; 
male, 1,155; female, 1,180; native, 2,332; foreign, 3; voters, 
459— white, 413, colored, 46. 

Property and Taxation. — Assessment, $160,026; taxes, 
$3,846; debt, $3,000. 

Farin Areas and Values. — 312 farms; 8,551 acres; value, 
$160,772; implements, $7,197; livestock, $44,972; products, 
$57,420. 

Vegetable Productions. — Buckwheat, 25 bushels; corn, 
66,092; oats, 3,914; rye, 2,126; wheat, 2,919; orchard 
products, $3,883; hay, 115 tons; potatoes — Irish, 5,963; 
sweet, 5,460 bushels; tobacco, 1,095 lbs- 

Live Stock and Products. — Horses, 330; mules, 74; 
oxen, 168; cows, 628; other cattle, 1,160; sheep, 2,253; hogs, 
5,263; wool, 3,921 lbs. ; butter, 31,265 lbs. 

Granville. —Population, 31,286: white, 13,603; colored, 
17,679; male, 15,558; female, 15,728 ; native, 31,163; 
foreign, 123; voters, 6,574— white, 3,201, colored, 3,373. 

Property and Taxation. — Assessment, $3,443,785; taxes, 
$40,165; debt, $45,000. 

Farm Areas ajid Values. — 2, 864 farms; 150, 127 acres ; 
value, $3,203,404; implements, $125,676; live stock, $372,- 
991; products, $1,463,887. 

Vegetable Productions. — Corn, 515,159 bushels ; oats, 
110,690; rye, 360; wheat, 90,764, orchard products, $13,871; 



406 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 

hay, 95 tons; cotton, 2,535 bales; potatoes — Irish, 14,622; 
sweet, 52,307 bushels; tobacco, 4,606,358 lbs. 

Livestock and Products. — Horses, 3,633; mules, 1,009; 
oxen, 1,067; cows, 4,765; other cattle, 6,209; sheep, 6,599; 
hogs, 21,124; wool, 15,046 lbs.; milk, 135 gallons; butter, 
181,129 lbs. ; cheese, 150 lbs. 

Manufactures. — Establishments, 97 ; capital, $147,800; 
employes, 293; wages, $35,240; material, $246,761; products, 
$354,172. 

G-UILFORD.— Population, 23,585: white, 16,885; colored, 
6,700; male, 11,322; female, 12,263; native, 23,388; foreign, 
197; voters, 5,305— white, 3,962; colored, 1,343. 

Property and Taxation. — Assessment, $3, 839, 946 ; taxes, 
$34,772; debt, $3,050. 

Farm Areas and Values. — 2,810 farms; 148,392 acres; 
value, $2,234,735 ; implements, $106,029 ; live stock, $353,726 ; 
products, $797,184. 

Vegetable Productions. — Barley, 1,068 bushels; buck- 
wheat, 62; corn, 519,185; oats, 129,723; rye, 1,725; 
wheat, 127,214; orchard products, $49,223; hay, 7,017 
tons; cotton, 114 bales; potatoes — Irish, 13,777; sweet, 20,- 
302 bushels; tobacco, 422,716 lbs. 

Live Stock and Products. — Horses, 3,313; mules, 1,186; 
oxen, 416 ; cows, 5, 081 ; other cattle, 7, 559 ; sheep, 10, 148 ; hogs, 
17,404; wool, 21,218 lbs. ; milk, 12,472 gallons; butter, 185,- 
990 lbs. ; cheese, 50 lbs. 

Manufactures.— 'EistsLblish.ments, 98 ; capital, $438,800 ; em- 
ployes, 374; wages, $72,305; material, $350,383; products, 
$498,526. 

Halifax.— Population, 30,300: white, 9,137; colored, 21,- 
163; male, 15,212; female, 15,088; native, 30,239; foreign, 
61 ; voters, 6,730— white, 2,236; colored, 4,494. 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 407 

Property and Taxation. — Assessment, $3,111,799; taxes, 
$27,236; debt, $8,000. 

Farm Areas and Values. — 2,683 farms; 137,245 acres; 
value, $2,172,467; implements, $100,398; live stock, $349,- 
105; products, $1,141,365. 

Vegetable Productions. — Barley, 76 bushels; corn, 437,- 
321; oats, 41,771; rye, 520; wheat, 9,235; orchard pro- 
ducts, $13,117; hay, 357 tons; cotton, 16,661 bales; pota- 
toes — Irish, 6,128; sweet, 52,709 bushels; tobacco, 8,487 
lbs. 

Live Stock and Products. — Horses, 2,026; mules, 1,581; 
oxen, 2,472; cows, 3,065; other cattle, 5,127; sheep, 1,771; 
hogs, 20,034; wool, 5,213 lbs. ; milk, 33 gallons; butter, 35,- 
683 lbs. ; cheese, 295 lbs. 

Manufactures. — Establishments, 22 \ capital, $58,725; em- 
ployes, 87; wages, $12,270; material, $71,660; products, 
$99,020. 

Harnett.— Population, 10,862: white, 7,092; colored, 
3,770; male, 5,362; female, 5,500; native, 10,836; foreign, 
26; voters, 2,214— white, 1,564, colored, 650. 

Property and Taxation. — Assessment, $842,347; taxes, 
9,209; debt, $18,750. 

Farm Areas and Values. — 1,450 farms; 42,927 acres; 
value, $809,073; implements, $44,640; live stock, $170,071; 
products, 443,197. 

Vegetable Productions. — Com, 180,458 bushels; oats, 
7,640; rye, 1,257; wheat, 10,957; orchard products, $7,048; 
hay, 38 tons; rice, 830 lbs.; cotton, 3,627 bales; potatoes — 
Irish, 1,286, sweet, 96,118 bushels; tobacco, 9,510 lbs. 

Live Stock and Products. — Horses, 763; mules, 645; 
oxen, 725; cows, 1,974; other cattle, 4,057; sheep, 4,213; 
hogs, 15,404; wool, 8,464 lbs.; milk, 174 gallons; butter, 
30,238 lbs. ; cheese, 80 lbs. 



4iS COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 

Manufactures.— Establishments, 23 ; capital, $42,950; 
employes, 42; wages, $4,765; materials, $32,075; products, 

$52,202. 

Haywood.— Population, 10,271: white, 9,787; colored, 
484; male, 5,097; female, 5,174; native. 10,267; foreign, 
4; voters, 1,963— white, 1,874; colored, 89. 

Property and Taxation.— Assessment, $918,792; taxes, 
$11,553; debt, $4,000. 

Farm Areas and FaZwes.— 1,355 farms; 52,132 acres; 
value, $1,089,033; implements, $41,866; live stock, $211,- 
093; products, $256,161. 

Vegetable Productions. — Buckwheat, 4, 684 bushels; corn, 
314,446; oats, 35,834; rye, 4,383; wheat, 56,587; orchard 
products, $8,112; hay, 1,016 tons; potatoes— Irish, 8,072, 
sweet, 2,405 bushels; tobacco, 39,516 lbs. 

Live Stock and Products. — Horses, 1,534; mules, 423; 
oxen, 197; cows, 2,570; other cattle, 5,353; sheep, 8,830; 
hogs, 16,126; wool, 13,999 lbs. ; butter, 127,157 lbs. ; cheese, 
980 lbs. 

Manufactures. — Establishments, 20 ; capital, $30,160; 
employes, 24; wages, $3,540; materials, $43,759; products, 
$52,868. 

Henderson. — Population, 10,281: white, 8,893; colored, 
1,388; male, 5,019; female, 5,262; native, 10,223; foreign, 
58; voters, 2,041— white, 1,794; colored, 247. 

Property and Taxation. — Assessment, $1,026,266; taxes, 
$22,131; debt, $105,050. 

Farm Areas and Values. — 1,327 farms; 45,445 acres; 
value, $958,738; implements, $34,836; live stock, $187,921; 
products, $179,604. 

Vegetable Productions. — Buckwheat, 637 bushels; corn, 
227,411; oats, 23,087; rye, 16,351; wheat, 12,295; orchard 



OF NOETH CAROLINA. 409 

prouucts, $9,089; hay, 892 tons; cotton, 4 bales; potatoes — 
Irish, 9,675, sweet, 2,627 bushels; tobacco, 4,087 lbs. 

Live Stock and Products. — Hoi-ses, 932; mules, 434: 
oxen, 600; cows, 2,176; other cattle, 3,282; sheep, 6,514; 
hogs, 8,419; wool, 10,476 lbs. ; milk, 210 gallons; butter, 81,- 
335 lbs. ; cheese, 360 lbs. 

Manufactures. — Estabhshments, 30 ; capital, $18, 925 ; 
employes, 43; wages, $4,689; material, $29,685; products, 
$48,074. 

Iredell. — Population, 22,675: white, 16,752; colored, 
5,913; male, 10,876; female, 11,799; native, 22,634; foreign, 
41; voters, 4,636— white, 3,530; colored, 1,106. 

Property and Taxation. — Assessment, $2,656,050; taxes, 
$30,715; debt, $56,000. 

Farm Areas and Values. — 2,476 farms; 112,365 acres; 
value, $2,506,368; implements, $104,493; live stock, $344,- 
706; products, $834,862. 

Vegetable Productions. — Buckwheat, 85 bushels; corn, 
588,220;oats, 126,429; rye, 1,581; wlieat, 88,056; orchard 
products, $18,811; hay, 2,252 tons; cotton, 4,657 bales; po- 
tatoes—Ii'ish, 9,667; sweet, 11,601 bushels; tobacco, 242,714 
lbs. 

Live Stock and Products. — Horses, 2,494; mules, 1,862; 
oxen, 202; cows, 3,789; other cattle, 5,218; sheep, 8,179; 
hogs, 17,696; wool, 14,233 lbs. ; milk, 1,780 gallons; butter, 
177,206 lbs. ; cheese, 1,885 lbs. 

Manufactures. — Establishments, 78; capital, $157,920; 
employes, 137; wages, $17,698; material, $200,004; products, 
$256,429. 

Jackson. — Population, 7,343: white, 6,591; colored, 
752; male, 3,643; female, 3,700; native, 7,331; foreign, 12; 
voters, l,409~white, 1,258; colored, 151. 



410 COAL AND lEON COUNTIES 

Property and Taxation. — Assessment, $471,478; taxes, 
$6,341; debt, $1,500. 

Farm Areas and Values. — 1,087 farms; 32,853 acres; 
value, $2,118,971; implements, $101,594; live stock, $1,485,- 
667; products, $191,002. 

Vegetable Productions. — Buckwheat, 1,100 bushels; corn, 
188,521; oats, 9,440; rye, 7,878; wheat, 21,801; orchard 
products, $8,496; hay, 477 tons; cotton, 6 bales; potatoes — 
Irish, 11,169; sweet, 10,278 bushels; tobacco, 4,801 lbs. 

Live Stock and Products. — Horses, 1,162; mules, 341; 
oxen, 317; cows, 1,943; other cattle, 3,327; sheep, 5,828; 
hogs, 15,071; wool, 9,990 lbs. ; butter, 92,459 lbs. ; cheese, 
1,131 lbs. 

Manufactures. — Establishments, 11; capital, $14,900; em- 
ployes, 19; wages, $1,918; materials, $25,597; products, 
$31,677. 

Johnston. — Population, 23,461: white, 15,996; colored, 
7,465; male, 11,581; female, 11,880; native, 23,428; foreign, 
33; voters, 4,879— white, 3,404; colored, 1,475. 

Property and Taxation. — Assessment, $2,872,820 ; taxes, 
$26,210 ; debt, none. 

Farm Areas and Values. — 3,231 farms ; 107,585 acres ; 
value, $2,853,246 ; implements, $127,373 ; live stock, $433,- 
960 ; products, $1,269,610. 

Vegetable Productions. — Corn, 428,996 bushels ; oats, 
29,958 ; rye, 1,032; wheat, 25,111 ; orchard products, $12,- 
409 ; hay, 48 tons; rice, 19,672 lbs. ; cotton, 15,151 bales ; 
potatoes — Irish, 1,951 ; sweet, 210,456 bushels ; tobacco, 12,- 
881 lbs. 

Live Stock and Products. — Horses, 1,873 ; mules, 1,629 ; 
oxen, 1,780; cows, 3,718 ; other cattle, 6,676; sheep, 7,263; 
hogs, 39,328 ; wool, 13,308 lbs, ; milk, 835 gallons ; but- 
ter, 46,310 lbs. ; cheese, 71 lbs. 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 411 

Manufactures. — Establishments, 48 ; capital, $109,550 ; 
employes, 132 ; wages, $20,044 ; material, $105,011; prod- 
ucts, $156,264. 

Lincoln. — Population 11,061 : white, 8,180 ; colored, 
2,881 ; male, 5,341 ; female 5,720 ; native 11,049 ; foreign, 
12 ; voters, 2,286— white, 1,728 ; colored, 558. 

Property and Taxation. — Assessment, $1,670,731 ; taxes, 
$15,547 ;debt, $1,500. 

Farm, Areas and Values. — 1,350 farms; 57,523 acres; 
value, $1,423,637; implements, $72,419; live stock, $206,532; 
products, $500,945. 

Vegetable Productions. — Corn, 313, 907 bushels; oats, 44,- 
939; rye, 155; wheat, 65,949; orchard products, $7,312; hay, 
1,316 tons; rice, 1,230 lbs. ; cotton, 2, 945 bales ; potatoes — 
Irish, 7,966; sweet, 19,179 bushels; tobacco, 6,085 lbs. 

Live Stock and Products. — Horses, 1,210 ; mules, 1,234; 
oxen, 52 ; cows, 2,170 ; other cattle, 3,035 ; sheep, 3,851 ; 
hogs, 8,102 ; wool, 5,305 lbs. ; milk, 943 gallons ; butter, 
115,682 lbs. ; cheese, 228 lbs. 

ilfa?iw/ac^wres.— Establishments, 61 ; capital, $286,355 ; 
employes, 192 ; wages, $36,783 ; material, $240,589 ; prod- 
ucts, $339,726. 

McDowell.— Population, 9,836 : white, 7,939 ; colored, 
1897; male, 4,847; female, 4,989 ; native, 9,813 ; foreign, 
23 ; voters, 2,002— white, 1,574 ; colored, 428. 

Property and Taxation. — Assessment, $577,977; taxes, 
$7,888; debt, $55,000. 

Farm Areas and Values. — 1,363 farms ; 38,795 acres : 
value, $864,933 ; implements, $23,910 ; livestock, $120,149; 
products, $196,154. 

Vegetable Productions. — Buckwheat, 202 bushels ; com, 
205,934; oats, 13,111; rye, 5,016; wheat, 32,903 ; orchard 



412 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 

products, $6,500; hay, 108 tons; rice, 545 lbs.; cotton, 9 
bales ; potatoes — Irish, 10,635 ; sweet, 12,707 bushels ; 
tobacco, 30,541 lbs. 

Live Stock and Products. — Horses, 841 ; mules, 715 ; oxen, 
267; cows, 1,937; other cattle, 2,863; sheep, 4,428; hogs, 
8,727; wool, 6,466 lbs.; milk, 927 gallons; butter, 74,162 
lbs. ; cheese, 845 lbs. 

iifa^iw/ac^wres.— Establishments, 22 ; capital, $41,300; 
employes, 54; wages, $8,208; materials, $40,204; products, 
$58,036. 

Macon.— Population, 8,064: white, 7,395; colored, 656; 
male, 3,932; female, 4,132; native, 8,043; foreign, 21; 
voters, 1,612— white, 1,488; colored, 124. 

Property and Taica^w^L— Assessment, $715,782; taxes, 
$9,447; debt, $1,000. 

Farm Areas and Values. — 1,182 farms; 39,370 acres; 
value, $707,864; implements, $38,940; live stock, $179,144; 
products, $199,580. 

Vegetable Productions. — Barley, 50 bushels; buckwheat, 
761; corn, 222,855; oats, 12,209; rye, 8,734; wheat, 27,038; 
orchard products, $4,101; hay, 1,719 tons; potatoes — Irish, 
11,315; sweet, 11,214 bushels; tobacco, 9,154 lbs. 

Live Stock and Products. — Horses, 1,532; mules, 504; 
oxen, 382; cows, 2,288; other cattle, 3,945; sheep, 7,318; 
hogs, 15,058; wool, 9,930 lbs.; butter, 94,094 lbs. ; cheese, 
1,031 lbs. 

Manufactures. — Establishments, 11 ; capital, $15,240; 
employes, 11; wages, $1,675; materials, $26,458; products, 
$32,990. 

Madison.— Population, 12,810: white, 12,351; colored, 
459; male, 6,468; female, 6,342; native, 12,797; foreign, 13; 
voters, 2,524— white, 2,410; colored, 114. 



COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 413 

Property and Taocation. — Assessment, $677,727; taxes, 
$11,041; debt, none. 

Farm Areas and Values. — 1,702 farms ; 69,087 acres; 
value, $1,083, 057; implements, $39,508; live stock, $239,- 
841; products, $400,081. 

Vegetable Productions. — Barley, 70 bushels; buckwheat, 
2,809; corn, 348,858; oats, 38,816; rye, 4,641; wheat, 40,192; 
orchard products, $13,623; hay, 679 tons; cotton, 4 bales; 
potatoes— Irish, 11,822, sweet, 1,764 bushels; tobacco, 807,- 
911 lbs. 

Live Stock and Products.— Horses, 1,455; mules, 786; 
oxen, 283; cows, 2,927; other cattle, 3,834; sheep, 10,269; 
hogs, 17,489; wool, 17,027 lbs.; milk, 405 gallons; butter, 
139,872 lbs. ; cheese, 616 lbs. 

Manufactures. — Establishments, 7; capital, $17,500; em- 
ployes, 13; wages, $1,692; material, $19,045; products, $24,- 
392. 

Mecklenburg. — Population, 34,175: white, 17,922; 
colored, 16,253; male, 17,027; female, 17,148; native, 33,869; 
foreign, 306; voters, 7,698— white, 4,179; colored, 3,519. 

Property and Taxation. — Assessment, $5,577,852; taxes, 
$103,261; debt, $316,750. 

Farm Areas and Values. — 2,645 farms; 146,24^ acres; 
value, $3,382,544; implements, $143,314; live stock, $439,- 
740; products, $1,451,470. 

Vegetable Productions. — Barley, 138 bushels ; corn, 
539,385; oats, 94,356; rye, 403; wheat, 66,767; orchard pro- 
ducts, $7,985; hay, 135 tons; cotton, 19,129 bales; potatoes, 
—Irish, 9,459, sweet, 26,393 bushels; tobacco, 2,291 lbs. 

Live Stock and Products. — Horses, 2,205; mules, 3,041; 
oxen, 60; cows, 3,299; other cattle, 3,380; sheep, 3,478; hogs, 
10,963; wool, 7,709; lbs.; milk 1,025 gallons ; butter, 240,- 
208 lbs. 



414 OF NOETH CAROLINA. 

^anii/acf?fres.— Establishments, 75 ; capital, $218,925 ; em- 
ployes, 296 ; wages, $66,608; material, $202,791; product, 
$349,846. 

Mitchell.— Population, 9,435: white, 8,932; colored, 
503; male, 4, 666 ; female, 4,769; native, 9,427, foreign, 8; 
voters 1,799,— white, 1,701; colored, 98. 

Property and Taxation. — Assessment, $283,856; taxes, 
$7,316; debt, $700. 

Farm Areas and Values. — 1,451 farms; 42,572 acres; 
value, $728,928; implements, $20,727; live stock, $171,099; 
product, $187,013. 

Vegetable Productions. — Buckwheat, 3, 468 bushels; corn, 
209,131; oats, 40,845; rye, 9,021; wheat, 19,725; orchard 
products, $12,491; hay, 1,960 tons; cotton, 6 bales; pota- 
toes—Irish, 20,988, sweet, 2,661 bushels; tobacco, 29,647 lbs. 

Live Stock and Products. — Horses, 1,311; mules, 354; 
oxen, 1,631; cows, 2,544; other cattle, 3,349; sheep, 7,057; 
hogs, 14,125; wool, 14,297 lbs.; milk, 170 gallons ; butter, 
114,458 lbs. ; cheese, 2,345 lbs. 

Manufactures. — Establishments, 21; capital, $169,200; 
employes, 57; wages, $6,393; material, $43,785; products, 

$67,850. 

Montgomery.— Population, 9,374: white, 6,857; colored, 
2,517; male, 4,616; female, 4,758; native, 9,362; foreign, 12; 
voters, 1,916— white, 1,476; colored, 440. 

Property and Taxation. — Assessment, $858,040; taxes, 
$10,918; debt, $15,000. 

Farm Areas and Values. — 1,290 farms; 48,117 acres; 
value, $811,550; implements, $54,541; live stock, $176,100; 
products, $407,249. 

Vegetable Productions. — Corn, 210,521 bushels; oats, 
50,248; rye, 425; wheat, 39,702; orchard products, $781; hay, 



COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 415 

296 tons; cotton, 2,989 bales; potatoes— Irish, 11,260, 
sweet, 21,849 bushels ; tobacco, 14,370 lbs. 

Live Stock and Productions. — Horses, 1,055 ; mules, 
703 ; oxen, 301 ; cows, 2,201 ; other cattle, 3,480 ; sheep, 
6,713; hogs, 10,375 ; wool, 12,748 lbs. ; milk, 127 gallons; 
butter, 80,076 lbs. ; cheese, 25 lbs. 

Manufactures. — Establishments, 51; capital, $95,025; 
employes, 105; wages, $11,323; material, $95,295; products, 
$129,724. 

Moore. — Population, 16,821: white, 11,485, colored, 
5,332; male, 8,395; female, 8,426; native, 16,768; foreign, 53; 
voters, 3,689— white, 2,553; colored, 1,136. 

Property and Taxation. — Assessment, $1,565,733; taxes, 
$18,898; debt, $60. 

Farm Areas and Values. — 2,098 farms; 70,922 axjres; 
value, $1, 310, 615 ; implements, $94, 910 ; live-stock, $291, 577 ; 
products, $617,710. 

Vegetable Productions. — Corn, 302,196 bushels; oats, 
48,744; rye, 3,954; wheat, 45,413; orchard products, $13,585; 
hay, 366 tons; cotton, 3,988 bales; potatoes — Irish, 6,257, 
sweet, 65,018 bushels; tobacco, 15,724 lbs. 

Livestock and Products. — Horses, 1,727; mules, 1,123; 
oxen, 460; cows, 3,765; other cattle, 7,036; sheep, 9,531; 
hogs, 19,865; wool, 18,814 lbs.; milk, 780 gallons; butter, 
107,604 lbs. 

Mxnw/acfitres.— Establishments, 123; capital, $225,110; 
employes, 672; wages, $115,459; material, $278,463; pro- 
ducts, $522,862. 

Nash.— Population, 17,731: white, 9,417, colored, 
8,314; male, 8,777, female, 8,954; native, 17,718, foreign, 13; 
voters, 3,701— white, 2,076, colored, 1,625. 



416 OF NOETH CAROLINA. 

Property and Taxation. — Assessment, $2,145,371; taxes, 
$15,241; debt, none. 

Farm Areas and Values. — 2,130 farms; 85,685 acres, 
value, $2,193,732; implements, $90,191; live stock, $279,270; 
products, $957,376. 

Vegetable Productions. — Corn, 295,619 bushels; oats, 
30,135; rye, 336 ; wheat, 27, 560 ; orchard products, $8,882; 
hay, 66 tons; cotton, 12,567 bales; potatoes — Irish, 4,460; 
sweet, 93, 997 bushels; tobacco, 7,562 lbs. 

Live Stock and Products. — Horses, 1,404; mules, 1,171; 
oxen, 1,626; cows, 2,120; other cattle, 4,028; sheep, 4,063; 
hogs, 21,475; wool, 7,640 lbs.; milk, 20,123 gallons; but- 
ter, 36,040 lbs. ; cheese, 25 lbs. 

Manufactures.— Estsihlishments, 31; capital, $263,875; 
employes, 214; wages, $25,933; materials, $119,950; pro- 
ducts, $178,038. 

Orange.— Population, 23,698: white, 14,555; colored, 
9,143; male, 11,780; female, 11,918; native, 23,658; foreign, 
40; voters, 5,283— white, 3,365; colored, 1,918. 

Property and Taxation. — Assessment, $3,013,002; taxes, 
$29,377; debt, $1,200. 

Farm Areas and Values.— 2,SQ5 farms; 86,401 acres, 
value, $1,844,319; implements, $94,855; live stock, $299,- 
802; products, $693,512. 

Vegetable Productio7is.— Corn, 366,640 bushels; oats, 
86,268; rye, 208; wheat, 96,006; orchard products, $16,- 
087; hay, 1,214 tons; cotton, 1,919 bales; potatoes— Irish, 
7,627, sweet, 22,360 bushels; tobacco, 1,178,732 lbs. 

Live Stock and Proditcifs.— Horses, 2,769 ; mules, 1,273 ; 
oxen, 392 ; cows, 4,056 ; other cattle, 4,769 ; sheep, 7,055 ; 
hogs, 16,359 ; wool, 14,954 lbs. ; milk, 4,140 gallons; butter, 
169,735 lbs. ; cheese, 1,074 lbs. 

.¥anw/acfwres.— Establishments, 96; capital, $823,000; 



OF NORTH CAEOLINA. 417 

employes, 1, 131 ; wages, $129, 560 ; materials, $725, 072 ; pro- 
ducts, $1,236,984. 

Person.— Population, 13,719: white, 7,206; colored, 
6,513; male, 6,692; female, 7,027; native, 13,715; foreign, 
4; voters, 2,918 — white, 1,643; colored, 1,275. 

Property and Taxation. — Assessment, $1,489,224; taxes, 
$15,839; debt, $8,000. 

Farm Areas and Values. — 1,299 farms, 76,797 acres; 
value, $1,402,200; implements, $60,623; live stock, $212,- 
646; products, $634,579. 

Vegetable Productions. — Corn, 241,523 bushels ; oats, 
56,926; rye, 86; wheat, 51,935; orchard products, $15,691: 
hay, 118 tons ; cotton, Ibale; potatoes — Irish, 7,522; sweet, 
12,843 bushels; tobacco, 3,012,387 lbs. 

Live Stock and Products. — Horses, 1,814; mules, 726; 
oxen, 475; cows, 2,530; other cattle, 3,333; sheep, 4,414; 
hogs, 10,281; wool, 7,499 lbs. ; milk, 2 gallons; butter, 106,- 
096 lbs. 

Manufactures. — Establishments, 42 ; capital, $138,400; 
employes, 202; w^ages, $16,367; material, $116,821; pro- 
ducts, $160,895. 

Randolph.— Population, 20,836 : white, 17,758; colored, 
3,078 ; male, 10,050 ; female, 10,786; native, 20,828; for- 
eign, 8; voters, 4,440 — white, 3,858; colored, 582. 

Property and Taxation. — Assessment, $2,412,914; taxes, 
$25,471; debt, $5,000. 

' Farm Arexxs and Values. — 2,923 farms; 100,888 acres; 
value, $1,707,892; implements, $123,932; livestock, $365,- 
692; products, $633,167. 

Vegetable Productions. — Barley, 407 bushels; corn, 
477,168; oats, 88,380; rye, 729; wheat, 137,104; orchard 
products, $16,019; hay, 4,951 tons; cotton, 295 bales; pota- 



418 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 

toes — Irish, 15,790, sweet, 19,809 bushels; tobacco, 11,- 
101 lbs. 

Live Stock and Products. — Horses, 3,254; mules, 1,336; 
oxen, 560; cows, 4,670; other cattle, 7,771; sheep, 15,742; 
hogs, 21,146; wool, 29,868 lbs.; milk, 5,741 gallons; butter, 
152,041 lbs. ; cheese, 1,578 lbs. 

Manufactures. — Establishments, 98 ; capital, $487,665; 
employes, 828 ; wages, $111,009 ; material, $617,053 ; products, 

$894,462. 

EiCHMOND. — Population, 18,245: white, 8,141; colored, 
10,104; male, 8,963; female, 9,282; native, 18,185; foreign, 
60; voters, 3,715— white, 1,871; colored, 1,844. 

Property and Taxation. — Assessment, $1,885,868; taxes, 
$30,021; debt, $45,000. 

Farm Areas and Values. — 1,698 farms; 76,067 acres; 
value, $1,612,457; implements, $85,091; live stock, $244,- 
409; products, $971,293. 

Vegetable Productions. — Corn, 277,974 bushels ; oats, 
32,279; rye, 2,338; wheat, 19,994; orchard products, $3,958; 
hay, 10 tons; rice, 17,460 lbs.; cotton, 12,754 bales; pota- 
toes—Irish, 2,701, sweet, 65,374 bushels; tobacco, 1,305 lbs. 

Live Stock and Products. — Horses, 1,171; mules, 1,297; 
oxen, 390; cows, 2,759; other cattle, 4,748; sheep, 1,504; 
hogs, 16,501; wool, 33,430 lbs.; milk, 275 gallons; butter, 
56,679 lbs. ; cheese, 20 lbs. 

Manufactures. — Establishments, 31 ; capital, $208,000; 
employes, 230 ; wages, $36,594 ; materials, $143,707 ; products, 

$232,854. 

EOCKINGHAM. — Population, 31,744: white, 12,431; colored, 
9,313; male, 10,770; female, 10,974; native, 21,673; foreign, 
71; voters, 4,679~w]iite, 2,826: colored, 1,853. 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 419 

Property and Taxation.— Assessment, $2,393,622; taxes, 
$25,569; debt, $6,011. 

Farm Areas and Values.— 2,105 farms; 84,188 acres; 
value, $1,912,548; implements, $104,988; live stock, $327, - 
890; products, $866,706. 

Vegetable Productions.— Barley, 60 bushels; buckwheat, 
126; corn, 392,767; oats, 139,266; rye, 1,383; wheat, 71,187; 
orchard products, 28,701; hay, 412 tons; cotton, 3 bales; 
potatoes — Irish, 19,561, sweet, 27,911 bushels; tobacco, 
4,341,259 lbs. 

Live Stock and Products. — Horses, 1,660; mules, 1,212; 
oxen, 372; cows, 3,393; other cattle, 3,599; sheep, 3,870, 
hogs, 12,822; wool, 8,411 lbs. ; milk, 1,375 gallons; butter, 
172,080 lbs. 

Manufactures. — Establishments, 67; capital, $404,905; em- 
ployes, 743; wages, $81,099; material, $325,103; products, 
$503,596. 

EoWAN.— Population, 19,965: white, 13,621; colored, 
6,344; male, 9,633; female, 10,332; native, 19,923; foreign 
42; voters, 4,369— white, 3,040; colored, 1,329. 

Property and Taxation. — Assessment, $3,058,170; taxes, 
$28,700; debt, $2,400. 

Farm Areas and Values. — 2, 467 farms; 110,178 acres; 
value, $2,337,516; implements, $136,936; live stock, $299,- 
763; products, $789,306. 

Vegetable Productions.— Buckwheai, 43 bushels ; corn, 
597,519; oats, 142,121: rye, 1,134; wheat, 138,278; orchard 
products, $32,482; hay, 5,348 tons; cotton, 4,381 bales; po- 
tatoes — Irish, 22,858; sweet, 25,452 bushels; tobacco, 115,- 
251 lbs, 

Live Stock and Products. — Horses, 3,076; mules, 1,564; 
oxen, 44; cows, 3,807; other cattle, 5,408; sheep, 6,506; 



420 COAL AND IRON COUNTIES 

hogs, 20,907; wool, 13,659 lbs. ; milk, 4,192 gallons; butter, 
152,433 lbs. 

Manufactures. — Establishments, 71; capital, $148,165; 
employes, 257; wages, $32,077; material, $214,384; pro- 
ducts, $293,949. 

Stokes. -Population, 15,353: white, 11,730; colored, 3,623; 
male, 7,554; female, 7, 799; native, 15, 349; foreign, 4; voters, 
3,077— white, 2,446, colored, 631. 

Property and Taxation. — Assessment, $1,148,174; taxes, 
$16,961; debt, $2,000. 

Farm Areas and Values. — 1,765 farms; 57,393 acres; 
value, $1,207,505; implements, $52,561; live stock, $220,457; 
products, $549,481. 

Vegetable Productions. — Buckwheat, 40 bushels; corn, 
338,781; oats, 72,391; rye, 5,023; wheat, 55,284; orchard 
products, $19,859; hay, 813 tons; cotton, 7 bales; potatoes 
—Irish, 17,816; sweet, 19,860 bushels; tobacco, 2,131,161 lbs. 

Livestock and Products. — Horses, 1,359; mules, 1,096; 
oxen, 278; cows, 2,507; other cattle, 2,855; sheep, 4,073; 
hogs, 11,772; wool, 8,055 lbs.; butter, 123,321 lbs. ; cheese, 
134 lbs. 

Miwit/acft^res.— Establishments, 69; capital, $95,102; em- 
ployes, 228; wages, $16,506; material, $165,875; products, 
$213,804. 

Surry.— Population, 15,302 : white, 13,227; colored, 
2,075; male, 7,504; female, 7,798; native, 15,294; foreign, 
8; voters, 3,181— white, 2,782, colored, 399. 

Property and Taxation. — Assessment, $1, 421 , 662 ; taxes, 
$12,998; debt, $10,000. 

Farm Areas and Values. — 2,164 farms; 81,690 acres; 
value, $1,345,547; implements, $57,156; live stock, $209,046; 
products, $434,168. 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 421 

Vegetable Productions. — Buckwheat, 505 bushels; com, 
397,143; oats, 70,737; rye, 10,482; wheat, 42,046; orchard 
products, $10,831; hay, 924 tons ; cotton, 1 bale; potatoes — 
Irish, 18,139; sweet, 24,669 bushels; tobacco, 905,250 lbs. 

Live Stock and Products. — Horses, 1,495; mules, 761; 
oxen, 594; cows, 2,621; other cattle, 2,524; sheep, 6,191; 
hogs, 14,015; wool, 12,708 lbs. ; milk, 13,055 gallons; butter, 
119,150 lbs. ; cheese, 2,481 lbs. 

Manufactures. — Establishments, 65; capital, $218,050; 
employes, 338; wages, $33,084; material, $183,419; products, 
$262,705. 

Swain. — Population, 3,784: white, 3,234; colored, 550; 
male, 1,912; female, 1,872; native, 3,784 ; voters, 764— 
white, 648; colored, 116. 

Property and Taxation. — Assessment, $286,745; taxes, 
$3,114; debt, $991. 

Farm Areas and Values. — 654 farms; 14,275 acres; 
value, $295,480; unplements, $10,106; Hve stock, $68,294; 
products, $73,527. 

Vegetable Productions. — Buckwheat, 146 bushels; corn, 
100,542; oats, 4,301; rye, 2,259; wheat, 6,578; orchard prod- 
ucts, $1,082; hay, 83 tons; potatoes — Irish, 2,558, sweet, 
2,154 bushels; tobacco, 1,166 lbs. 

Live Stock and Products. — Horses, 493; mules, 157; 
oxen, 250; cows, 959; other cattle, 1,777; sheep, 3,329; 
hogs, 7,089; wool, 4,412 lbs.; butter, 27,313 lbs.; cheese, 
100 lbs. 

Transylvania.— Population, 5,340: white, 4,823; colored, 
517; male, 2,682; female, 2,658; native, 5,319; foreign, 21; 
voters, 1,041 — white, 946, colored, 95. 

Property and Taxation. — Assessment, $540,256; taxes, 
9,014; debt, none. • 

Farm Areas and Values.— 734: farms ; 20,369 acres; 



422 COAL AND lEON COUNTIES 

value, $431,605; implements, $21,540; live stock, $102,713; 
products, $139,938. 

Vegetable Productions. — Buckwheat, 395 bushels ; corn, 
154,769; oats, 2,870; rye, 16,043; wheat, 3,760 ; orchard 
products, $531; hay, 493 tons ; potatoes — Irish, 8,226; sweet, 
3,444 bushels ; tobacco, 3,853 lbs. 

Live Stock and Products—Horses, 691; mules, 279; 
oxen, 233; cows, 1,410 ; other cattle, 2,859 ; sheep, 5,063 ; 
hogs, 7,345 ; wool, 7,485 lbs. ; milk, 15 gallons ; butter, 
45,365 lbs. ; cheese, 30 lbs. 

Manufactures. — Establishments, 10 ; capital, $10,000 ; 
employes, 10 ; wages, $2,170 ; material, $22,469 ; prod- 
ucts, $28,529. 

Wake.— Population, 47,939 : white, 24,289 ; colored, 
23, 650 ; male, 23, 835 ; female, 24, 104 ; native, 47, 675 ; foreign, 
264 ; voters, 10,968— white, 5,840 ; colored, 5,128. 

Property and Taxation. — Assessment, $9,072,884; taxes, 
$109,387; debt, $158,357. 

Farm Areas and Values. — 4,381 farms ; 161,272 acres; 
value, $4,378,331 ; implements, $200,371 ; live stock, $581,- 
646; products, $2,044,397. 

Vegetable Productions. — Corn, 612, 869 bushels; oats, 98,- 
962; rye, 1,109; wheat, 72,341; orchard products, $20,386; 
hay, 390 tons; cotton, 30,115 bales; potatoes — Irish, 8,138; 
sweet, 155,260 bushels; tobacco, 94,354 lbs. 

Live Stock and Products. — Horses, 2,731 ; mules, 3,052; 
oxen, 1,296; cows, 5,315; other cattle, 7,888; sheep, 7,069; 
hogs, 34,666; wool, 13,706 lbs. ; milk, 20,589 gallons; butter, 
178,246 lbs. ; cheese, 450 lbs. 

ilfam^fac^ztres.— Establishments, 137; capital, $364,198 ; 
employes, 861; wages, $174,894; material, $352,960; prod- 
ucts, $712,785. 



OF NORTH CAROLINA. 423 

Watauga— Population, 8,160: white, 7,746; colored, 414; 
male, 4,023, female, 4,138; native. 8,160; voters, 1,600— 
white, 1,522; colored, 78. 

Property and Taxation. — Assessment, $705,655 ; taxes, 
$7,536 ; debt, $2,845. 

Farm Areas and Valties. — 1,348 farms; 691,999 acres; 
value, $794,749; implements, $34,130; livestock, $185,432; 
products, $205,283. 

Vegetable Productions. — Buckwheat, 7,937 bushels 
corn, 148,204; oats, 23,205; rye, 18,850; wheat, 22,247 
orchard products, $10,091; hay, 3,980 tons; cotton, 3 bales 
potatoes — Irish, 14,470; sweet, 769 bushels; tobacco, 7,210 
lbs. 

Live Stock and Productions. — Horses, 1,414; mules, 230; 
oxen, 343; cows, 2,785; other cattle, 3,755; sheep, 8,902; 
hogs, 12,405; wool, 24,023 lbs. ; milk, 150 gallons; butter, 
119,623 lbs. ; cheese, 9,102 lbs. 

Manufactures — Establishments, 25 ; capital, $23, 550 ; em- 
ployes. 21; wages, $2,807; material, $28,545; products, $38,- 
346. 

Wilkes. —Population, 19,181: white, 17,257; colored, 
1,924; male, 9,089; female, 10,092 ; native, 19,175; 
foreign, 6; voters, 3,684— white, 3,377, colored, 367. 

Property and Taxation. — ^Assessment, $1,050,956; taxes, 
$15,525; debt, $11,000. 

Farm Areas and Values. — ^2,984 farms, 100,151 acres; 
value, $1,486,820; implements, $62,152; live stock, $269,- 
318; products, $402,845. 

Vegetable Productions. — Buckwheat, 1,530 bushels; corn, 
480,089; oats, 55,360; rye, 17,569; wheat, 37,696; orchard 
products, $25,269; hay, 657 tons; cotton, 29 bales; pota- 
toes—Irish, 25,991, sweet, 22,255 bushels; tobacco, 33,311 
lbs. 



424 COAL AT^D IRON COUl^TIES 

Live Stock and Products.— Horses, 2,097; mules, 760; 
oxen, 1,169; cows, 4,493; other cattle, 5,422; sheep, 1*0,036; 
hogs, 23,431; wool, 19,776 lbs. ; butter, 142,951 lbs. : cheese, 
2,201 lbs. 

Manufactures. — EstsMishments, 32; capital, $35,500; 
employes, 29; wages, $3,462; material, $48,922; products, 
$58,926. 

Wilson. —Population, 16,064: white, 8,655; colored, 
7,409; male, 7,958; female, 8,106; native, 16,047; foreign, 
17; voters, 3,437— white, 1,958; colored, 1,479. 

Property and Taxation.— Assessment, $2,587,974; taxes, 
$19,821; debt, $500. 

Farm Areas and Values.— 1,^72 farms; 66,027 acres; 
value, $1,740,070; implements, $60,551; live stock, $224,- 
513; products, $895,771. 

Vegetable Productions. — Corn, 299,957 bushels; oats, 
13,682; rye, 522; wlieat, 21,115; orchard products, $3,913; 
hay, 35 tons; rice, 1,800 lbs.; cotton, 13,049 bales; po- 
tatoes — Irish, 2,033; sweet, 58,336 bushels; tobacco, 8,745 
lbs. 

Livestock and Products. — Horses, 1,143; mules, 1,220; 
oxen, 816; cows, 1,131; other cattle, 2,466; sheep, 1,779; 
hogs, 20,255; wool, 3,326 lbs.; butter 7,442 lbs.; cheese, 
130 lbs. 

Manufactures. — Establishments, 30; capital, $77,100; 
employes, 126; wages, $22,450; material, $70,429; products, 
$120,039. 

Yadken.— Population, 12,420: white, 10,876; colored, 
1,544; male, 5,954; female, 6,466; native, 12,419; foreign, 1; 
voters, 2,461— white, 2,198; colored, 263. 

Property and Taxation. — Assessment, $1,141,001; taxes, 
$15,683 ;debt, $8,000. 

Farm Areas and Values. — 1,641 farms; 60,170 acres; 



OF NOKTH CAROLINA. 425 

value, $1,159,0^0; implements, $50,974; live stock, $188,- 
441; products, $303,269. 

Vegetable Prodwc^'ons.— Buckwheat, 188 bushels ; corn, 
343,070; oats, 79,443, rye, 3,723; wheat, 48,762; orchard 
products, $19,906; hay, 1,091 tons; cotton, 26 bales ; pota- 
toes—Irish, 7,635; sweet, 8,266 bushels; tobacco, 177,595 
lbs. 

Live Stock and Products. — Horses, 1,448 ; mules, 813 ; 
oxen, 194 ; cows, 2,327; other cattle, 2,841; sheep, 5,412; 
hogs, 12,447 ; wool, 10,095 lbs. ; milk, 2 gallons ; but- 
ter, 87,294 lbs. ; cheese, 1,253 lbs. 

Manufactures. — Establishments, 50; capital, $51,640; em- 
ployes, 50; wages, $5,674; materials, $55,727; products, 
$77,262. 

Yancey.— Population, 7,694: white, 7,369; colored, 325; 
male, 3,793; female, 3,901; native, 7,693; foreign, 1; voters, 
1,474— white, 1,417; colored, 57. 

Property and Taxation.— Assessment, $325,146 ; taxes, 
$7,844 ; debt, $2,000. 

Farm Areas and Values. — 1,183 farms ; 45,689 acres ; 
value, $618,881 ; implements, $24,192 ; live stock, $162,032; 
products, $186,203. 

Vegetable Productions. — Barley, 64 bushels; buckwheat, 
2,915; corn, 205,659; oats, 43,631; rye, 7,647; wheat, 21,- 
452; orchard products, $12,785; hay, 1,359 tons; potatoes 
—Irish, 6,934 ; sweet, 2,113 bushels ; tobacco, 33,898 lbs. 

Live Stock and Products.— Horses, 1,146; mules, 404; 
oxen, 115; cows, 1,926; other cattle, 2,791; sheep, 6,041; 
hogs, 10,659; wool, 9,344 lbs. ; butter, 104,312 lbs.; cheese, 
76 lbs. 

Manufactures.— EstsLhlishments, 19 ; capital, $18,940; 
employes, 19; wages, $2,176; materials, $27,155; products, 
$35,642. 



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